
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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^yZ^A/>^ c/i 





CELERY GROWING 



AND 



rvIARKKTING 

A SUCCESS 

WITH PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. 

ALSO 

ILLUSTRATED WITH THIRTEEN PLATES 

SHOWING NEW TOOLS AND APPLIANCES IN 
' ■ CELERY CULTURE AND THE CARE 
OF THE CROP. 

THIS IS THE ONIvY BOOK KVER WRITTEN WHICH COVERS THE WHOI^E 

PERIOD OF GROWING, MARKETING AND CARING FOR THE 

CROP, WITH EXPIJCIT DIRECTIONS. 



HONIKR L. STEWART, 

Originator of Stewart's Prairie-Side Celery Growing. 

TECUMSEH, MICH. 



THE BLADE PRINTINQl & PAPER CO 
1891. 




Entered according- to the act of Cong-ress, in the year 1891, by 

HOMER L. STEWART, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congrress at Washing-ton, 



'O 



DEDICATION. 

TO THE PEOPLE OF THIS GRAND UNIVERSE 

Wineresoever located, without distinction as to size^ strength, 

age or sex , who by a well directed thought or act shall 

contribute to the death of the day of cruel 

wrongs now perpetrated upon humanity ; 

whereby the tears which now stand upon the pale cheek of sorrow 

and want shall be dried ; and the abundant supply of 

earth's richest harvests nnore evenly divided by 

a people and an eternal principle of 

right which shall teach every person to mind 

his own business, and all earn an honest living : 

THIS VOLUME 

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



PREKACE. 



After reading this treatise through once, you will 
have soniiething of an opinion of your own in regard to it. I 
certainly have endeavored to make it plain. My spare 
time from the care of m_v celery industry for the past two 
years has been sjDent upon this work. There is not an item 
in the book but what can be relied upon as giving the same 
answer as recorded here when surrounded by the same con- 
ditions and manipulated in a similar manner. They have all 
been demonstrated. I hope you will read the preface entire 
first. In this book is noted my own practical experience in 
celery growing and marketing. Not a phrase has been 
borrowed from any article ever written by others upon this 
subject. Now believing as I do that what has been done 
can be done, I give some figures in my own business, which 
I otherwise would not have given, not as a boast, but simply 
recording a fact in a business pursuit for the benefit of others 



10 PREFACE. 

that they may occasionally " See a footprint in the sands of 
time "and take courage anew. 

As you commence studying this book, a short history 
of celery is noticed at first; then the different kinds of soils, 
which are best, how to prepare them so you can reasonably 
expect a crop ; the kinds of celery to grow for the family, 
also the kinds to grow for market; how to make a hothouse 
or bed, how and where to get the seed, how and wlieii to sow 
it, early and late ; how to fit the ground for the plants ; how 
to care for the plants before setting, how and when to set 
them, how to cai-e for them after being set; how to blanch 
them; how to gather,wash, bunch, tie and box; how to market, 
get all your goods are worth, and your pay; how to find 
buyers that want your celery, and how to keep them ; how 
to build the storehouse, and how to store celery away for the 
winter, and when to gather it in the different latitudes. 
Also all tools and appliances for growing, and to facil- 
itate handling and caring for the crop, together with thirteen 
cuts illustrating how to make and use them, as there are 
several which jou cannot as yet buy already made. 

In raising just for home use, there are many things 
which can be dispensed with, but in growing for market, in 
order to entertain a reasonable hope of success, you must be 
prepared in both knowledge and equipments to measure 
arms with the very best growers in the field. 

. I think the cuts all show plainly, so you will be able to 
make them. Some are very valuable and yott cannot afford 
to tr}^ to get along without them. The ptilverizer to fine 



PREFACE. 11 

the soil ; the wheel which punches the holes for the plants : 
the washing rack, with its style of work ; the rubber tying 
box with its foot lever; the rope crates for handling without 
bruising ; the perfection of the banking plow ; the knife as 
attached to the plow for cutting the celery out of the ground, 
thereby saving one-fifth of the help from the way of taking 
it out with the spade or fork : are all of my own device and 
new in celery culture. Those who do not have them cannot 
compete in price or perfection with those who do. 

Taking the dilference all in all between the mode 
usually pursued by celery growers and that as laid down in 
this treatise, it is fully as great as the difference is in harvest- 
ing between the old cradle and rake and the self-binder. 

When I commenced raising celery I left no stone un- 
turned in my endeavor to learn how to get better results 
than were being realized by growers then. As it rusted, 
and was liable to rot in w^arm weather as it approached 
ripeness, the consequence was that it was harvested green 
to save it, and upon the whole it was pretty tough and poor. 
I watched the horticultural papers for items to help me out 
of the dark, searched high and low, far and near, for a book 
of instructions, but was not able to find one, and never have, 
to this day, been able to find one worth mentioning. I have 
bought a sample of everything I have ever seen advertised, 
which at the best has been some little pamphlet, very meager, 
with no practical information excejjt what any one engaged 
in the business could not help but learn the first morning be- 
fore breakfast. I could have well afi'orded to have paid a 
few thousand dollars for a book containing the information ^F 



12 PREFACE. 

which this one does, as it would have enabled me thereby to 
have saved a net of six or seven thousand dollars per year 
for the first three years, which I spent in learriing ]vi^t what is 
now practically shown up in this work. I appeal to your 
judgment to sustain me in this assertion. 

Here are the facts in the case: In February, 1883, 
I bought one hundred acres of land at thirty-one 
dollars per acre, three miles from town, fifty being 
upland and cleared, the balance a swamp covered with 
willows, wild grasses, small poplars and elm trees. I 
cleared thirty-four acres and raised one acre of celery per 
year for the first three years, the fourth fourteen, the fifth 
twenty, and for the last three years thirty-four each year. 
Now for the result : From this acreage as given, for the past 
five years^ closing with 1890, my gross receipts from celery 
sales have sixty-seven thousand dollar8,with a clear cash net 
of forty-one thousand dollars over all expenses. (The mat- 
ter of transportation has not been brought into account here, 
as the buyer has always settled that at the other end of the 
route, I selling celery free on board car.) This is an average 
for five consecutive years, through favorable and unfavor- 
able seasons. 

My fourth year, which was in 1886, I sent out my first 
fine celery, and I soon became convinced that it was u 
higher grade than had ever before appeared in the markets, 
from its readv sale and the high praises of it which I re- 
ceived from my patrons. I now concluded to sliow the ex- 
perts in horticulture what had been accomplished. I there- 



PREFACE. 13 

fore sent sample boxes to a great many throughout the differ- 
ent States. They acknowledged the receipt at once, paying it 
the highest compliments in every instance. The following 
are samples of hundred of letters received : 

New York, Nov. 11, 1886. 

Mr. H. L. Stewart, Tecumseh, Mich. 

Dear Sir : Through your kindness we have to-day 
received some specimens of White Plume celery, very beauti- 
fully grown and deserving of the highest praise. We would 
like to know^ what you would charge us for a dozen boxes 
same as the one sent us, which we wish to use here in the 
city for advertising purposes. If you will also describe your 
method of culture we will be obliged. 

Yours very truly, 

Peter Henderson & Co. 

Mr. Henderson was very much pleased to be able to 
show up tliis .celery, as the following notes would indicate. 
In his seed catalogue of 1887 he says : " The celery Mr. 
Stewart sent us was beyond all question the finest we ever 
saw, and was sent by us to Delmonico's restaurant in this 
city, where its exhibition created a furore." Here follows 
what several of those high-priced hotels in New York City 
thought of the second lot, sent Nov. 15, 1886, which Mr. 
Henderson speaks of wanting to show in the cit3^ 



14 PREFACE, 

Fifth Ave Hotel, 
New York, Nov. 19, 1886. 

The celery sent by you yesterday has been received 
and tried. We are pleased to say they are the most beautiful 
specimens we have ever seen. 

Hitchcock, Darling & Co. 

Hotel Brunswick, ( 
New York, Nov. 19, 1886. f 

The box containing celery received, and in acknowl- 
edging we beg to say that it is the best we ever saw, 
and would gladly know where to purchase the same. 

J. B. WiSTAR, 

Steward for Hotel Brunsicick. 



Murray Hill Hotel, \ 
New York, Nov. 19, 1886. \ 

The specimens of celery are really beautiful, and show 

an advancement in the cultivation of this vegetable that 

merits more than ordinary praise. 

Hunting & Howard. 



Hoffman House, ) 

Nov. 20, 1886. f 

We are in receipt of the box of celery, and find it the 
finest we have ever seen. A portion of it was served at a 



PREFACE. 15 

special dinner of fourteen covers and received the highest 
encomiums by the guests who ate of it. 
Very truly yours, 

J. A., 
Sample buyer for Hoffman House. 

GiLSEY House, | 

New York, Nov. 1&, 1886. J 

I am in receipt of a sample box of celery from your 

house, and think it the finest I have yet seen. 

A. D. Hayner, Steward. 

It has also graced the table at the White House, as the 
following letter will show : 

Executive Mansion, Nov. 26, 1886. 
Mr. H. L. Stewart, Tecumseh, Mich. 

Dear Sir : Your pleasant Thanksgiving remembrance by 
a box of celery was duly received, and I beg to assure you of 
my appreciation of your courtesy and of the excellency of 
the product. 

Very truly yours, 

G rover Cleveland. 

Those New York hotels noted above buy the finest pro- 
ductions that the earth produces, regardless of the 
money cost, as their patrons have got the cash to pay for 



16 PREFACE. 

that kind of fare, and their opinion is worth something. 
Hence e.very grower of celery who has the ambition to sell 
at the top of the market, so as to get the best remunera- 
tion for thought and labor, will be pleased to know 
that this treatise contains the necessary informa- 
tion, as a guide to the production of celery which from 
the evidence above given has found such noted favor with 
the public. I am fully persuaded that to follow the course as 
laid down here (until you are sure you can do better) is the 
beginning of wisdom. Learn your business well, then start 
in with a determination to succeed, and you will, as success 
does not come by chance. 

July 1, 1891. The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



History of Celery, ... . . . . 25 

Selecting -a Site, ...... 26 

Its Use Increasing, . . . . . . 29 

Success in a Nutshell, ...... 30 

Preparing the Land, ..... 31 

Varieties of Celery, . . . . . .37 

Making a Hotbed and Sowing Seed, ... 40 

Sowing seed in Open Air, . . • . . .42 

Getting Ready to set the Plants, ... 44 

Sectioning and Platting Land for Convenience, . . 46 

The Wheel, its Construction and ITse {see Cut No. 2), 49 



20 contents. 

Taking up, Separating and Setting the Plants, . . 51 

Caring for Open-air Seed-beds, .... 59 

Care op Celery after Setting, .... 60 

.Material Used and Preparations for Blanching, . 64 

Making the Hooks, ...... 66 

Getting the Boards along the rows, ... 69 

Putting the Boards in Position for Blanching, . . 70 

Vats for Washing, ...... 71 

Preparing for Harvesting and Marketing where there is 
a Crop of Twenty to Forty Acres— Water for Wash- 
ing AND Necessary Buildings, .... 71 

How to make a Box in which to Bunch and Tie Celery, 79 

Allotting Space to Tyers, . . . • . 79 

Adjusting for the Foot Lever, .... 80 

Beauty of Rope Crates {sec Cut No. 10), ... 84 

Their Construction, ...... 84 

Passing the Bunches into the Packing Room, also Finish- 
ing ITS Construction, ..... 87 



CONTENTS. 31 

H.wiNd THE Packing Room Iced, .... 88 

Building House fok Boxin(; Lumbek, to make the Boxe« 

IN, etc., . . . . . . .88 

Selecting and Prepaking Lumber for Boxe?>, . . 91 

Boxing Celery, . . . . . . .01 

Packing Room should be Frost-rroof, ... 92 

A Tool-house Needed, ...... 94 

Irrigating the Crop, . . . . . . . 94 

Reviewing the Celery Field and the Workmen, . . 99 

Commencing the Harvest, . . . . . 101 

Marketing the Crop, . . . • . . .107 

Taking a Review, and making an Advance afterwards, 

AND Getting some Storehouse Material, . . 116 

Banking with Earth for Blanching, . . . 119 

The Construction of Shovel Plow and its I'se, . 120 

The Time for Banking Winter or Store Celery, . . 124 

An Attachment for a One-Horse Plow to cut off the 

Roots, and how to use it {see Cut No. 13), . . 126 



22 CONTENTS. 

How TO HaXDLK I'lIK IIkAOS THAI' y\l<l': TO lUO STOrtED, . loO 

F^iMLDiNd A S'roKKiiorsK AND V ics'iT i,A Ti N( ; iiii; Sami-:, . 132 

PiiTTiN<i Tiiio (!ki,kk^' jnto Tin; Si'()Ki:iioi sk, . . , 187 

'I'iCKINd lH'TlllNdS I'Oi; W^INTKU, .... 141 

'I'kimminc; out i'kom 'imik Siokkiioi :si:s, . . . 142 

iMakinc; i'iii', I^'inai. C^lkan i r, . , . . 148 
Tiioi (;iri's As'i'iii;'* ii a vi: Occiiim:!;!) sinci; WiiiriNCi tiikBodv 

oi 'riii; liooK, . . . . . . . 145 



Illustrations. 

PAGE. 

PoKTKAiT OF A I THOU, .... Froutispie ce . 

1. The Puj.VEKizKK, ...... 35 

2. Wheel for Punching Holks, . . . . .47 

3. SETTiN(i THE Plants, . . . . . .53 

4. The Sckai'ek, ... . . . .57 

5. Hand AVeedek, ...... (H 

(). Hooks fok Boajids, . . , . . .67 

7. Washing Rack, ...... 73 

8. TviN(; Tai:i>f, . . . . . . . 77 

9. BlTNCIUNG I3()\, . . . . . .81 

10. Roi'E Crate, . . . . . . .85 

11. Carrying Celery in Crate, . . . .811 

12. Banking Plow, . . . . . . .121 

i:}. Plow for Cutting Roots, . . . . .127 



[Please read the preface iirst, as you cannot fully 
understand the book without it.] 



Celery Growing and Marketing. 



HISTORY OF CELERY. 

J ELERY was introduced into this country from 
\ Europe, that place having been its home ; it 
grows wild there, in saline soils, usually upon low 
lands, upon the edges of ditches and brooks ; the 
stalks are hollow, with a bitter acrid taste, but now 
after years of cultivation it is so much changed that 
its flavor becomes exquisitely agreeable, and it is 
rescarded as a verv wholesome diet 

Through cultivation and time its stalks have 
become solid in the main, yet some varieties have 
a tendency to revert to their original hollow condi- 
tion. As we study the history and natural habits 
of this plant, it will aid us very materially in se- 
lecting a suitable soil, location, and preparation for 
its successful cultivation. Nature directs the way, 
so with care and a painstaking search we may fol- 



26 CEI^KRY GROWING. 

low; even though afar off, it is better than to be 
entirely astray. 

SELECTING A SITE. 

The peat lands, which are so common in many 
of the States, are without doubt the choicest loca- 
tions upon which to grow celery for market, as it 
can be quickly worked, and done so easily, after 
you once know how, and at such a fine profit for 
your thought and labor, upon lands that have been 
an eyesore for years upon thousands of farms all 
over our country. They have been known as waste 
lands, swamps, mire holes, good for nothing only 
to hold the world together, and hardly that, usual- 
ly covered with a growth of bushes, weeds or coarse 
grass of some kind. Golden-rod with its bright 
yellow blossoms frequently has entire control ; but 
these despised places have never contributed one 
dollar as profit to the farm, simply because you 
have not possessed the key with which to unlock 
the storehouse of wealth and profit which have 
lain there in a latent condition, "Lo, these many 
years." Now some vix^vrnw^. wake ttp ! resolve to 
give this much despised swamp a fair chance to 
contribute, and I assure you it will respond most 
nobly. I know, for I have tried it. 

Some of these lands have shallow water stand- 
ing upon them a part of the time. Such must be 



SELECTING A SITE. 27 

drained ; in fact they all need ditching to some ex- 
tent, but not too deep, or you may get it too dry, 
in a dry season. By the way, such lands, when 
reclaimed, will grow almost any crop (except the 
cereals) that will survive the late and early frosts 
that are incident to such low lands in this latitude. 
When I was subduing mine for a first crop, I grew 
corn upon twelve acres, had one hundred and 
twenty bushels per acre, and a frost hurt it some 
in August. The water stood within twelve inches 
of the surface when plowed in the spring. But 
excuse this digression ; we are now upon the celery 
theme, and must stick to the text. 

In case the land has willows or any small 
trees, it is best to grub them right out and clear it 
so you can plow it well, and a small patch of cel- 
ery, four or six acres, will return you a larger net 
profit than your whole farm beside, even though 
you have a full one-quarter section. There are 
thousands of f^xrms with from one to twenty or 
more acres upon it of this kind of land, and a 
77iortgage besides. Now, without any joking, it 
usually takes cash or its equivalent to get rid of 
those obnoxious things, yet one or two crops of cel- 
ery will do wonders in that line. In short, the mort- 
gage is off*, the land you still have. It has waked 
up! It is doing its duty grandly since you have 
given it a chance, and you will never want to get 



28 CKIyKKY GKOWING. 

rid of that, as you have now found out its value, 
and what a true friend it has been in your trying 
hour of need. 

These peat beds are the residue of decomposed 
matter, grasses and weeds, all formed right there 
when it was a lake, consequently it is all vegetable 
matter, full of nitrogen in a latent condition. They 
are very easily worked, and at much less expense 
than common lands, but require different treatment, 
which w^ill be particularly noted farther on. Almost 
any tract of low, level land can be utilized for 
celery-growing ; level, because it will not wash dur- 
ing heavy rain storms, and low, because such places 
retain moisture much longer in dry times. The 
Middle States have more lands adapted to celery- 
growing than either the Eastern, Southern, or 
Western, although there are some fine locations in 
all the States and Canada. The dry windy climate 
of the West is somewhat against that section, al- 
though that is being overcome by the system of 
irrigation. All the Gulf States have fine lands for 
celery. Tamarack swamps make good places in 
time, but they must be cleared several years before 
they can be utilized for that purpose; as the peat is 
too new, consequently coarse, it must rot down some 
first. Black ash and elm swamps are usually much 
richer, naturally, than any of the peat bedfe, as the 
soil in the black ash is a leaf mold; that is what I 



SELECTING A SITE. 29 

call muck land, and there is usually a subsoil of 
clay within a few inches of the surface, which so 
completely holds the fertility from getting away 
that they can be made to produce one of the best of 
crops, in case the subsoil is deep enough so the plow 
does nut turn up enough of the clay to make the 
land stiif and hard. 

What has been said so far applies 'more par- 
ticularly to growing celery on a large scale, or in 
other words, *for market." But we desire to con- 
sider the growing of this precious article of diet in 
all of its bearings and relations to the human family. 
Hence I say every farmer can grow it, in fact all 
who have a garden, be it high or low ground, clay 
or sand, by making it rich enough and keeping it 
well watered. It is very nice indeed, and labor 
well expended, to grow each year a few hundred 
heads for the family. It causes you to sleep more 
soundly, and cuts down the doctor's bill, etc. 

ITS USE IN^CREASING. 

Eight years ago it was a rare sight to see celery 
growing in this State, outside of Kalamazoo, or to 
find it upon the table of the farmer or working-man; 
it was considered a great luxury; but times are 
changing. It is now being considered a necessity 
for everyone, and not as in former times indulged 



30 CELEKY GROWING. 

in only by fancy hotels and a few private families 
herci and there. 

Just as soon as it is produced in quantities sui 
ficient to go around and supply the wants of the 
whole country, and at a price within the reach of 
all, it will be found upon every table, as it ought to 
be. The demand now keeps ahead of the increased 
production. It will be years, if ever, before the 
whole country is fully supplied. 

Take for example the little village of 2,200 
inhabitants, here where I live : it required only one 
acre of celery eight years ago, now it takes the 
growth of twelve acres to satisfy its demands. It 
seems to be advisable for all who are engaged in 
the celery industry to supply their home market 
first, then in case of a surplus to establish a trade 
with your nearest city market. 

SUCCESS IX A NUTSHELL. 

Up to the year 1886, nearly all celery was 
blanched by being banked up with the earth 
from between the rows. This does well as the cool 
weather of fall approaches, but in warm weather, 
and especially warm and wet, just as soon as it ap- 
proaches ripeness and readiness for use it becomes 
very tender, and will rust or rot through the con- 
taminating influence of the moldy earth. This is 
sure to be the case where the soil rests against the 



SUCCESS IN A NUTSHEI^L. 31 

stalks, especially if the celery is of a high order 
and tine-grained (juality. 

Tile and paper had been somewhat used on a 
small scale, but at the date above mentioned the 
use of boards for blanching had their advent, and 
most admirably do they answer the purpose. The 
appliances, paraphernalia, and their application to 
celery-culture shown in this book, are of my own 
designing, and have all been brought to the front 
within the last five years from a necessity to pro- 
duce a high grade of celery. 

My first three years' crops were very nearly 
failures, I, like every one else engaged in the busi- 
ness, not really knowing how to handle the crop so 
it would not rust and rot as it approached ripeness. 
While growing my third crop, however, after it 
was too far gone to save much of it, I thought I 
had discovered where the secret lay in saving the 
next year's one. Acting accordingly, it proved a 
grand success, since which time light has shone 
brighter each year. The theory has proved emi- 
nently successful and profitable, and the science of 
the whole practical, successful experiences, all hav- 
ing been thoroughly demonstrated, are recorded in 
this book. 

PREPARING THE LAND. 

Now we will prepare the land for first crop. 
Take low, wet lands first. In case there is no visi- 



32 CEir^ERV GROWING. 

ble way of draining the swamp without cutting a 
deep ditcji through the bank or rim that holds the 
water in, it is a good plan to prospect for a gravel 
outlet in the banK, in the event of your being in a 
gravelly locality. Many of these peat beds are 
simply cisterns ; the washings from the hills have 
formed a sedimentary deposit that holds the water. 

Cut well into the bank of gravel for an outlet, 
then dig your ditches and drain into it. Thirty 
inches is deep enough for the ditches. Do not get 
it too dry. Always bear in mind that celery de- 
lights in frequent drinks. In case of the ordinary 
level lay of such lands, one ditch every forty rods 
is sufficient, as peat lands are very porous, hence 
water passes through very readily. It is best to 
have open ditches at first, then you can tile if prac- 
ticable after you see that the drainage is all right. 

Clear the land as for any other crop, only have 
it more free from roots of shrubs, chunks of wood, 
etc. In case grass, wild or tame, is growing upon 
it, that must be well turned under one season in 
advance of the setting it with celery. But in case 
it is covered with small trees, willows, or brush ol 
any kind, clear it well, and it is as good the first 
year for a crop as ever. Plow all jDeat lands eight 
inches deep. 

Land that will produce 80 bushels of corn per 
acre will want to be fed with twenty two-horse 



PREPARING THK LAND. 33 

loads per acre of good stable manure, grain fed, 
and not burned by heating in piles. Spread as 
drawn, in fall, winterer spring; fall and winter are 
best, as the elements of fertility get well into the 
soil by spring, at which time plow under. In case 
your manure is poor, it will require more. Should 
it be much strawy, rake it well into the furrow in 
advance of the plow, or it will beliable-to intexfQve 
with the setting of the plants. After plowing, if 
the land is somewhat uneven in short jogs, go over 
it with a leveler, made with handles, after the style 
of an old-fashioned road-scraper. 

Now, sow broadcast five hundred pounds of 
refuse salt and fifty bushels of unleached ashes to 
the acre, or in place of the ashes, five to ten hund- 
red pounds of kainite, sometimes called *' German 
Salts." You can get it usually of local fertilizer 
dealers at about $15.00 per ton. 

Now is the time to make the land fine like a 
garden. A disk harrow is a good tool to cut it up 
with, in case it is soddy. Peat lands when new 
are lumpy, and I know of nothing for pulverizing 
them equal to the home-made tool shown in cut No. 
1, called \hQ pulverizer. 

Take oak plank, five feet long, eight inches 
wide, and two inches thick ; fasten a chain to the 
front edge to draw by. Now bore auger holes 



34 CFJ.ERV GROWING. 

two inches in dmnieter through the plank, drive 
oak pins througli from lower yide, wedge firm, iix 
poles (as cut shows) eight feet long, caamfer lower 
side of pole in front of hole, so the front edge of 
the plank can rise over the lumps when being- 
drawn. I think it will commend itself to your 
favorable consideration at a glance. This tool wdll 
help to cover up the fertilizer, level the land and 
powder the lumps „ 

There are parties who deal in ashes. I here 
give the name of one such firm : Munroe, Judson 
& Strop, No. 32 Arcade Bh)ck, Oswego, JN". Y. 
They furnish by the car load. 

I will say before going farther, that in case 
you are short of stable manure, you can fill in 
with dried blood, which can be had for about 
$35.00 per ton, in car lots, of the North- Western 
Fertilizer Co., of Chicago. That which looks 
dark -brown, is not good ; it has been burned while 
drying, it down. The red, looking like fresh 
ground tan-bark, is good. Sow same as commer- 
cial fertilizers, ten to fifteen hundred pounds to the 
acre. Manures sold under the head of commercial 
fertilizers have never produced near so fine a 
crop on peat land for me as stable manure. 

Now again: there are lands that will grow 
fine celery, such as sand loams and clay loams, 



PREPARING THK LAND. 37 

but be sure and have it so thoroughly enriched 
that it will be mellow, like an ash heap, and well 
lined ; then in a wet year you can grow a tine crop, 
but in a dry year it will suffer, and in no case can 
it be grown so easily or cheaply as uj^on the muck 
lands, or peat lands. In my opinion, the peat 
land stands first, the muck second, and the clay 
and sand loams third. Yet with any of the three 
grades, a person that understands his business, 
under favorable conditions, can do wonders. 

Exercise care, be painstaking in all the de- 
tails, do the work the day it should be done, and 
do it right. A sloven ought not to expect an 
abundant harvest. Celery must have growth, 
crispness and flavor. Try to improve on each past 
crop. It nearly always can be done. Bear in 
mind that it is a dull scholar that does not learn 
some new and good things each year. '* Excel- 
sior " is the watchword of to-day, and those who 
tarry too long in the rut, or look back, waiting 
for help from some miraculous source, will " get 
left." 

VARIETIES OF CELERY. 

There are twenty - five or thirty different 
names for celery. There is a wide difi^erence in 
some of the celeries, both in general appearance 
and merit. When I first commenced producing 



38 CELERY GROWING. 

celery, J purchased, seed by every name that I 
could hear of, and that gave me an opportunity to 
test all kinds, and so decide which Avas best for my 
ground. The plan is good for everyone. 

The earliest variety, and the one that sells 
best, is the White Plume. Xext is Henderson's 
Half Dwarf, Golden Dwarf, and Golden Heart. 
For late crops, to stand the cold and to store for 
winter use, the Boston Market leads the list. It 
has the best flavor, and is more tender than any 
other kind. Next in order come White Walnut 
and Perfection Hartwell, both of which are good. 
Then comes Henderson's New Rose, a pink vari- 
ety, one of the best of winter keepers, a choice rich 
flavor, but will not sell in the market, as nearly 
everyone is prejudiced against pink or red celery. 

There is still another variety worth mention- 
ing — that is, the Golden Self-blanching. It is a 
very yellow sort and quite attractive in appearance 
when ripe. It sells well, but has a poor flavor, and 
is quite liable to rot at the heart as soon as ready 
for use. 

Difl*erent varieties vary in different localities, 
in vigor, solidity of stalk and profit. Therefore get 
a packet of all kinds for a test, but have your prin- 
cipal crop of the kinds I have named and you 
will not be astray. 



VARIETIES OE CEIyERY. 39 

The White Plume originated on the celery 
grounds of the late Peter Henderson, of Jersey 
City. He found one head, and grew seed from it 
about the year 1875. Being such a distinct variety 
and so very j)retty, it was universally tested, but 
in a few years almost given up as wanting growth 
and flavor, or as being unprofitable. That was 
one ' of the kinds I tested when comm-encing the 
business, and found it the most profitable variety 
ever grown. The present style of handling it was 
develoj)ed here upon my grounds, since which time 
the markets have been all alive to get hold of it, 
as it stands at the head in the markets of the world. 
When in its beauty and prime it is a very deli- 
cate sort, and will not keep very well later than 
Christmas. 

You can send for seed catalo^'ues which will 
show to you the varieties and how to get them. 
There ' are scores of dealers ; I here give two : 
Peter Henderson <& Cu., Cortland street, K". Y., 
and A. W. Livingston's Sons, Columbus, Ohio. 
Both are good reliable firms. Send in your name, 
asking them to send you seed catalogue, and they 
will do it in the hope of getting your custom . Order 
seed so as to have it in February. There are seed 
houses, in fact, in everv State. 



40 CElvEKY GROWING. 

MAKING A HOTBED AND SOWING SEED. 

It is not necessary to go to the expense of 
building a costly house to grow early plants in. In 
early winter cover over a few square rods of ground, 
such as would make a good seed-bed, with barn- 
yard manure, two or three feet deep, so that the 
ground cannot freeze. Then about the first of 
March, pile this manure off the land, also take 
enough surface dirt to cover your hotbed manure 
five inches deep. Set boards edgewise where you 
have taken the earth to enclose your bed; hold 
them in position by stakes and nails. Now fill in 
fifteen inches deep with grain-fed manure, with 
some litter mixed through it, either from horse, 
sheep or hog, pack solid, and there will be good 
heat generated to give you fine plants large enough 
to set in sixty days. After packing put on earth 
^ve inches thick, tread down. 

Now sow the seed, either in drills six inches 
apart or broadcast. Rake in, and tread down 
again if the soil is peat, not if any other kind. My 
experience is in favor of broadcast sowing ; can get 
more and stockier plants off same ground. Take 
a half-pound baking powder can, punch a few small 
holes in the lid, fill with seed, mark off a few 
square feet on the dark ground, so that the seeds 
will show. Now shake it over the same as a pep- 



MAKING A HOTBED AND SOWING SEED. 41 

per box, and count the seeds upon a square foot. 
Have loO, but after they come up thin to 100. 
Where the bed is solid it does not hurt to walk on 
it with rubbers on (or any broad-soled foot wear) 
for thinning, weeding, etc. 

Bear in mind to have your sash made and in 
readiness to cover as soon as seeds are sown. Make 
the bed to fit the sash. A handy size is three by 
six feet. Bank around the bed to keep out the 
cold. The sash should slope towards the south a 
little, say at the eaves six inches above bfed, at up- 
per end 18 inches. After the plants come up, put 
a thermometer inside. Don't let it get above 90 
degrees. • Block up the sash to let in air. Keep 
well watered, and when four inches high shear 
half down with sheep-shears ; it makes them root 
heavier. 

Peat soil is best of all for seed-beds, as it will 
not get hard. Then comes muck as next best, 
which, however, is greatly improved by adding 
one-quarter sand wel 1 m ixed together. Do not pack 
this soil after the seed has been sown. 

This style of a hotbed will do very well for ai 
start, but :^xrther on I will give instructions upon 
a larger scale which will be utilizing one of the 

storehouses for that purj^ose after the winter celery 
has all been trimmed out. It will answer the pur- 
pose well. 



42 CKI.ERY GROWING. 

SOWING SKED IX OPEN AIR 

Have c:rouiul leveled down in tlio fall in throe 
or four ditfereiit parts of your celery iield, which 
4ire the most free from weed seeds, also where it 
holds moisture well. As soon as the frost is out of 
the surface in April, sow one bed ; in eight days 
another. IlaA'e all sown by first of May. By so 
doimc vou will hardly fail toshe assured of haviuii; 
an abundance of plants. Be sure to roll your seed- 
beds after sowing and raking in lightly. High 
gravel, clay or sandy land raises A'ery poor plants, 
unless immensely rich and kept wet. 

Keep beds free from weeds and keep tops 
mown otf with common grass scythe. Always 
rake olf the cut leaves with tine rake. In case the 
weeds are very tliick when the plants are small, 
you can use a board twelve inches wide and six- 
teen feet long to work on. Keep turning board 
over as you advance towards weeds. Board does 
not hurt plants. Sow three pounds seed per acre. 
One acre of good seed-bed will set eight to twelve 
acres of ground. 

I have been able to get early plants by using 
cotton cloth instead of glass, from seed sown first 
of April. Fix boards around bed the same as for 
glass, tack cloth on top (common yard wide mus- 
lin, thin). 



SOWING SKKD IN OPKX AIK. 43 

There is a growini:^ demand for early celery. 
A great many people use it early and late, and all 
the time when they can get it, and mourn hecause 
it is not in the market every day in the year. 
Hence the earlier you can have it ready in 
summer and the later you can keep it in winter, 
the longer the season and the greater the profit. 
Farther on you will find explicit directions how to 
build a storehouse into which celery is i)ut upon 
the approach of cold weather in the fall, and trim- 
med out in winter for the market. This makes a 
fine place for a hotbed by taking off the roof from 
the south side and putting in its place glass. 
Then in case there is need of it a stove can be put 
in to help keep it warm. Enough fine earth can 
be put in before it freezes in the fall for seed bed 
when ready to be used. There is considerable 
earth taken as a matter of course upon the roots of 
the celery when it is stored. When the celery is 
trimmed out pile the waste stalks, leaves and roots 
so they will rot down and be ready to mix with the 
soil. By having a pipe come from your windmill 
underground so as not to freeze, and up inside of 
the storehouse, terminating in a hydrant, the seed 
bed can be watered nicely by attaching a hose with 
a rose nozzle. 

The plant beds over the field can all be plowed 
and worked in as you come to them if the plants 



44 CEI/ERY GKOWING. 

are out ; if not, as soon as the bed is free come 
back, fit the ground and mark out the rows to mate 
or conform to those already set, either full or parts 
of rows, taking some pains when selecting plants 
for the seed-bed to get large, strong ones. As 
they will be later set out, they need to be larger 
to catch up with their neighbors. It can all be 
done so as to show up an even field by using a little 
head work. I have known plants to be a j^erf ect fail- 
ure on one or two beds in a field and others in same 
field to be very fine. Hail storms, droughts, etc., 
are very destructive when they reach celery fields. 

GETTING EEADY TO SET THE PLANTS. 

As the first of May approaches, the land to be 
set with celery needs to be made ready. A set of 
soft-ground shoes are needed. You can make them 
yourself from a piece of 1|- inch plank, eight inches 
square ; cut holes for the calks, then bore a f -inch 
hole each side of the hoof, through which put a loop 
off iron rod with threads cut upon both ends, also 
burs ; slip the loop over the hoof so it will set near 
the upper edge of the hard part, then screw up so 
as to hold it in place. A horse will walk easily now 
where he would mire or fl_ounder without them. 
L. Brigham, of Decatur, Michigan, manufactures 
iron soft-ground shoes at one dollar apiece. I 
have a full set. They are just the thing. 



GETTING READY TO SET THE PIvANTS. 45 

Now, in case your land is not thoroughly pul- 
verized and fined, or is grassy or weedy, go over 
it with a common harrow or a disk harrow and pul- 
verize just according to the needs of the case, 
then roll down with a heavy roller. JN'ow the 
ground is in condition and the plants are ready for 
setting. 

There is one more implement needed at once, 
that is; a marker, made similar to one for corn 
This difference, however, observe: have the mark 
ing teeth nearly perpendicular, and made so they 
can be changed from a three-foot to a four-foot 
gauge. Where you are to blanch with boards, tile, 
or paper, mark light, so as to set the plants upon 
the surface, and three feet between rows is about 
right. To blanch with earth they must be four 
feet apart, and trenched about four inches. 

The trenching can be done while marking. 
Take a strip of board, adjust upon each side of 
each tooth, leaving the tooth projecting two inches 
below the Lower edge of the board. Screw fast to 
the tooth, also screw a stay on the back of the 
flanges to make strong. Now you have something 
like a shovel-plow, and so light it is easily handled. 
Go in each row twice ; let the horse walk each time 
in last row. It makes a very nice trench to set 
plants in for earth bank, and at the same time throws 
the dirt well back from the row. By bearing dowa 



46 CEI^ERY GROWING. 

or easing up you can make a uniform trench. Com- 
mence upon that part of the field where the high- 
est and driest ground is, so as to get the plants in 
there early, before the dry weather comes on. 

SECTIONING AND PLATTING LAND FOR CONVENIENCE 

IN BLANCHING. 

For the first row set a stake at each end just 
where it is to be, and drag a chain as a guide for 
the marker. In case there is not much dangej 
from weeds coming on, mark off all you calculate 
to blanch with boards, tile or paper. Leave a 
wagon road through the center of your field cross- 
wise the rows, where the rows are more than thirty 
rods long, as a convenience for getting boards to 
the celery and harvesting. Twelve feet wide is 
enough. I have 125,000 feet of lumber that 
blanches about twenty-two acres of my thirty-four 
acres each year, and am through with the boards 
in time to use them for my winter storehouses by 
first of October, some a little before. 

A large amount of labor can be saved by the 
following plan : Divide your rows off in sections 
of four rows each as far as you can set two rows of 
each section in May. After the last day of May, 
three rows to the section is enough. That is, set 
the first row marked, then skip the next three of 
that section. Now set the first row of the second 



THE WHEEI*. 49 

section as far as you can set two rows of each sec- 
tion in May. After the last day of May then set 
one row and skip two, and so on through the field. 
In eight or ten days after the first row of the first 
section was x^ut in, go back and set the second row 
of all the sections through the field. Then in a 
few days set the third row, closing the fourth and 
last row soon after. About sixty-five days after 
the first rows are set they will be ready to blanch, 
and after the boards are put up to blanch them it 
will be fourteen to eighteen days before the celery 
is ready to gather. During the time the first rows 
of the sections are being blanched, the second rows 
will be making growth to equal in size the first 
rows. Kow when the first rows are white (stalk 
and heart leaves) lay the boards flat on the ground 
and harvest the rows as much as you want to mar- 
ket that day, then put the boards up to the next 
row, and so on each in its turn through the entire 
field. Be sure and have a driveway along the end 
of the rows. 

THE WHEEL, ITS CONSTRUCTION AND USE. 

{See cut No. 2.) 

To make a wheel, pin boards or plank together 
until you can cut out a wheel forty inches in diam- 
eter and SIX inches in thickness. Now put a two- 
inch hole exactly through the center ; drive in a 



50 CEIwERY GROWING. 

tight-fitting oak pin, twenty-four inches long. Now 
this pin or shaft becomes a part of the wheel, and 
when in use revolves in the holes bored into the 
side pieces by which it is drawn, and is the main 
part of the framCo These pieces are about six feet 
long and one inch thick, with a pin put through 
their front ends to draw by. There is an upright 
handle at the rear of the wheel witii a cross-bar at- 
tached ; that is to steady it by and hold it verti- 
cally true when in use. The other works upon the 
frame are simply stays, except the hole punchers 
in the rim and two pieces of cross-cut saw blades 
for cleaners. Holes are bored into the center of 
the surface of the rim with a two-inch auger, five 
inches dee]^ and five inches apart, with a solid oak 
pin driven in each hole and projecting four inches 
from the surface. These pins are to punch the holes 
into which to set the plants. It does its work well. 

Soil is liable to stick to the rim and clog between 
the pins when wet. In order to overcome that 
use a pair of scrapers. Plave your blacksmith cut 
from old cross-cut saw blade two strips, two inches 
wide by fourteen inches long. Round and smooth 
one end a little so it will not cut the wood; also 
curve them like a sleigh runner, flatwise, just 
enough so that by punching two holes in the other 
end of each strip and screwing them solid to the 
outside of the frame just at rear of Avheel, with 



TAKING UP, SEPARATING AND SETTING. Si 

the edges resting within one-fourth inch of the rim 
of the wheel, the tip ends of the steels will just 
meet each other between the punching pins. Now 
as the wheel revolves, the pins pass through be- 
tween the tij)s of the steels and each one gets 
scraped in its turn and the rim also scraped. (See 
scrapers in cut.) 

Two men handle the wheel just as you see in 
the cut. When ready to commence setting take 
the first row. The man drawing will walk in the 
mark which has been made by the marker, while 
the one at the rear to steady walks a little to one 
side so as not to disturb the marks. As the wheel 
turns, each pin punches a hole for a plant ; the 
holes are about five inches apart. A row forty 
rods long has 1,42-1 holes. The soil rolls in and 
partly fills the holes as the wheel passes, but is 
readily taken out by the setter. 

TAKING UP, SEPARATING AND SETTING THE PLANTS. 

Run the wheel in as many rows as you have 
hands for setting, as it is very particular work and 
must be done well to get good results. It is best 
to have each hand set a complete row, as you are 
thereby enabled to keep the run of the good or 
bad work each one does by occasionally cross- 
ing the rows which are benig set, to test their pros- 
pect for living. You can then see who is setting 



52 CELEKY GROWING. 

each row and be able to give instruction according 
to the needs of each case. The tap root must not 
be curled up. The earth must be pressed firmly 
around the plants 

In the mean time the plants are to be gathered 
and made ready for setting. Take them up with 
a common spade, kept sharp as a knife by the use 
of a flat file. Take a pair of sheep- shears, cut the 
tops of the plants off two inches above the ground, 
then the loaves cannot evaporate the moisture from 
the root before it commences to draw support from 
the earth through its new rootlets, which will show 
in forty-eight hours after setting in favorable 
weather. Common milk-pans are good to sort the 
plants into for carrying to the field. 

Everything being now ready to commence gather- 
ing, slide the spade full length of blade right un- 
der the plants, cutting the tap root If inches be- 
loAV the surface of the ground, sliding each spade- 
iuU ofi^ upon a vacant spot of ground where those 
who gather into pans will have room to work. 
Each separator needs two pans, one for the large 
plants and one for the small, so when set in the 
row each grade will be by itself and the large can- 
not overshadow the small and so keep them from 
growing. Or you can set the small ones close in 
a bed and transplant to the field after they get 
larger ; for hothouse plants it is a good way to do. 










!/3 



TAKING UP, SEPARATING AND SETTING. SS 

When putting the plants into the pans separate 
each plant one from the other. Put no grass or 
weeds in ; have the plants stand nearly upright in 
the pans, and press close together to keep the air 
from the roots. Stand the pan while filling it at a 
slant, so the plants will lean a little, then when the 
pan is filled put in a handful of earth where the 
last plant was put, so as to mark the gpot for the 
setter to commence taking out. You will find they 
come out nicer that way. Then sprinkle each pan 
of plants with a little water to keep them fresh, 
and cover with canvas. The pans can be taken to 
the field on a wheelbarrov/. Lay thin boards cross- 
wise, set on one tier of pans, lay boards on top of 
pans, then another tier of pans, and so on until 
you have a load. Distribute a few pans every 
eight rods through the strip that is being set with 
plants so they will be handy for the setters. Cover 
each lot with canvas. It is better to have one set 
of hands to set the plants, another to separate. 
The latter women or girls can do, and they make 
the best kind of help. 

Setting is easy work as you get accustomed to it. 
Get upon your knees with a pan of plants opposite, 
just across the row and within easy reach (see 
plate 'No. 3). Take out the last plant put in the 
pan, grasping it between the thumb and index 
finger of the left hand, one-quarter inch above the 



56 CEI^ERY GROWING. 

crown. With the right hand take out the soil that 
has fallen into the hole made by the wheel, then 
place the root into the hole against the left side, 
letting the hand holding the plant rest upon the 
ground, keeping hold of the plant as advised until 
you have filled and packed the earth well around 
the root with the right, that being your guide to 
having the plant set just the right depth in the 
ground, which is one-quarter inch deeper than it 
grew in the bed, thus keeping the air away from 
the roots. Plants set with care as advised will 
nearly every one live, even in hot weather. It is 
much better to take extra care and time is setting 
than to set loosely and depend upon their living by 
watering them. 

My hands average five thousand plants per day 
when the soil is in a good moist state. The drier 
the soil the slower the work, as more time is re- 
quired to firm it around the root. Each setter 
must have a dibble — a sort of a spud — to make 
holes for the plants in case of hard places in the 
field. 

In setting plants upon mellow ground the pack- 
ing of the earth about the roots always settles the 
plant at least two inches below the level of the 
land. In case of hard rain-storms it will wash in 
and cover the plants, hence the earth must be 
scraped back from both sides of the row. There 




THE SCRAPER. [Cut No 4 ) 



CARING FOR OPEN-AIR SEED-BEDS. 59 

is no tool just right for that work, but you can 
make one by taking a piece of board twenty-four 
inches long by four wide, and one-half inch thick, 
chamfer one edge and screw a strip of hoop-iron 
in front of the chamfer, then attach a handle six 
feet long and you have a good tool for scraping 
back the earth. (See cut No. 4.) This we will call 
the scraper. 

Then again, when setting in furrows for earth 
banking, there is more earth to scrape back, as the 
celery is several inches below the surface. 

CARING FOR OPEN-AIR SEED-BEDS. 

Keep the seed-beds free from weeds, and thin out 
the plants where they are too thick. It is well to 
be prepared to water the beds, as sometimes the 
April or May droughts are very severe. There is 
a critical time in a plant's life, and it* must have 
moisture just as it is coming up. By having inch- 
pipe laid through your seed-beds to connect with 
windmill, by the use of hose and a rose nozzle you 
can water the beds. In weeding or thinning out 
carry oft all waste so as not to obstruct the growth 
of plants. After mowing rake off the tops. 

Always be sure and sow enough so as to set 
nothing but plants of the best order. Some are 
weak and will never make a good head, others have 
no heart ; such should invariably be thrown away. 



60 CEUCKV GUOVVING. 

There will always be some plants in a bed niuch 
larger tlum the general run. Those will come 
in fine play to prick out one at a time through the 
bed, with some soil at the roots, and set in where 
the hotbed plants have died out of the rows, in 
case there are any such. If not, they can be used 
to set whole rows in order to keep the work mov- 
ing along — that is, where the hotbed plants have 
all been set and the others are not large enough to 
spade. 

CARE OF CELERY AFTER SETTING. 

After having set the plants the ground must be 
kept free from weeds. Don't let them get any more 
than a start. The Planet Junior Cultivator is a 
good tool for that purpose, also to keep the soil 
loosened up; yet you cannot take the weeds out of 
the row with it. 

Have your blacksmith make a tool this way: 
Use a thin piece of steel fourteen inches long by 
three wide, with one edge kept sharp by use of file. 
Have handle like that of garden-rnke fastened 
within one inch of the top of the IJnck of the blade, 
with braces going near the ends of blade. You 
will soon become expert in the use of it. By stand- 
ing a little ahead of your work it will tnke nearly 
every weed out of a row from between the plants. 

Then once in tlie season, in c.-ise the w(hh1s are 
bad, go over it with a hand weculer, made of a piece 




HAND WF^KDKK. {Cul No. 5.) 




HAND WEKDICK. {Cut No. 5 ) 



CARE OE CEI.ERY AFTER SETTING. 6S 

of hoop-iron (see cut 'No. 5) fourteen inches long 
with the ends brought together for a handle, and 
four inches of the center in a blade, kej)t sharp to 
scrape the weeds out from between the plants when 
they get about five inches high. 

After plants grow of much size they make it so 
shady the weeds cannot grow, so that by cultivat- 
ing "you will be able to keep the land perfectly free 
from weeds and mellow as an ash bed. Weeds 
like purslane and pigweed should never be left to 
go to seed upon the ground. In case they escape 
attention in the forepart of the season and get ad- 
vanced enough to mature seed when pulled up, 
gather in baskets and carry off. My grounds, 
which have grown eight crops, are not much weedy 
yet, by exercising the precaution given. Yet the 
land has been very heavily manured. The weeds 
of course start, but are not allowed to go to seed. 

Some plants (by an inherent right, I guess) grow 
with more vigor than others even after exercising 
the care in setting as heretofore noted, and as a re- 
sult of such growth, if not checked, a great many 
plants per acre fail to make even heads. There- 
fore, when they get five inches high, take a com- 
mon hoe, make sharp with a file (and keep so), and 
go over the field, holding the handle vertical at 
your side, and with a swinging motion of the hoe 
head the large plants all back. While they are 



64 CFJvKR\' (".ROWING. 

rallying for n now start the small ones are coming 
right along, so afterwards the size will not differ 
much. I have practiced it for four years, and de- 
rive great benefit from it. 

After the celery gets eight inches high, the 
ground becomes well lilled with roots ; then if you 
continue to cultivate do it very lightly, so as to 
break as few roots as possible, as it has a tendency 
to check its growth if the ground is worked deep 
between the rows. 

'Now the rows have all been set, but there may 
be some plants missing that have failed to grow 
from not having been well put in, or a very poor 
l^lant set out that should have been rejected. Go 
over all the rows. Set in large p hints where there 
is one missing and take out those that look feeble, 
as they will not make good heads. Plants should 
all be set by the 10th of July. Celery appreciates 
warm weather, and does not make rapid growth 
without it. 

MATERIALS USED AND PREPARATIONS FOR BLANCHING. 

Tile-blanched celery is very^ fine, but it is not 
practicable on a large scale. It is only done by slow 
work and is too expensive. But with a few hun- 
dred heads for the garden it is fine. Take two pieces 
of tin or sheet-iron fifteen inches long, shaped like 
a half-tile sawed in two lengthwise. Put the two 



MATERIALS USED FOR BI,ANCHING. 65 

pieces together with three hinges so they will 
readily open and fold. This we call a *' folder." 
Open it, place the concave part against the plant 
with one end of the folder near the ground, press 
the i^lant into the concave of the folder with one 
hand and gradually close the folder around the 
plant with the other, letting the edges slip past 
each other a little so that a four-inch drain tile will 
slip over the folder down to the ground. Now 
withdraw the folder ; the tile is doing its work. 
Have the tile set along the rows ahead so as to 
have them handy. 

Paper is also too expensive except upon a small 
scale foV private use. Take common brown paper 
twelve inches by twenty-four in size. Have No. 
24 wire cut ready, in length fourteen inches. Put 
the folder around the head of celery the same as 
for tile. Wrap the paper around the folder the 
narrow way hoice. It must have two thicknesses 
to keep out the light. Wrap one wire around two 
inches below the top. Draw out the folder, letting 
the bottom of the paper rest upon the ground, and 
so on. The paper cannot well be used more than 
once. 

So much for tile and paper. Now we come to 
boards. They will please you, I think. Get good 
barn boards without black knots, twelve inches 
wide and sixteen feet long. Have them surfaced 



66 CElvSRY GROWING, 

on both sides, ns that makes theiri lighter, smooth 
to handle, and will last longer, as they dry quicker 
after getting wet. Yon can try ten-inch boards. 
I have done so, but upon the whole think the twelve- 
inch are best. Pine, pretty free from sap, is the 
kind to get. Common lumber warps too badly. 
This lumber can bo drawn at your leisure, and one- 
fourth piled along the ends of the rows upon each 
side of the field, and the balance piled where it will 
be handy to draw to the center road when you get 
ready to use it, in case you have a center road, but 
if not, draw it all to the ends, always piling so it 
will keep dry. 

MAKING THE HOOKS. 

After the first rows have been set sixty-fivo days, 
if they have mack^ a fair growth they will stand 
fifteen inches in height. Now is the time to com- 
mence blanching them. A few things must be 
done yet, however. The wire hooks to hold the 
boards up to the celery are to be made. Use a piece 
of three-inch wagon-tire eighteen inches long, with 
six holes a little lai-ger than No. 9 wire punched in 
the edges of one end, and with some large holes in 
the other end, through which to spike it fast to a 
solid block ; or an iron vise can be used to good 
advantage. Take unannealed No. 9 wire; with 
heavy wire cutters, cut tlie pieces for the hooks 



HOOKS FOR BOARDS. {Cut No. «) 



t ^1 

HOOKS FOR BOARDS. {Cat No. G ) 



PI,ACIN(} THK hOAKDS. 69 

eight indies long and at a slant, so the end of each 
point will be sharp enough to stick in the board and 
hold just as put. Now, to complete the hook, stick 
one end of the wire into a hole of the bar about one 
inch and bend it a little more than at a right angle, 
so the sharp point will stick into the board. Now 
do the other end the same. It requires as many 
hooks as boards. Lay the hooks in' pans as they 
are completed, ready for use. (See cut No. 6.) 

GETTING THE BOARDS ALONG THE ROWS. 

Now we are ready to lay the boards alongside 
the rows, which is done by the men carrying two 
boards at a time upon their shoulders, laying both 
down by the side of the row to be blanched, then 
taking the top one and laying it over upon the op- 
posite side of same row. Carry one-half way 
through from the ends to the center road, then load 
upon a broad-tire wagon and distribute the other 
.half way by drawing through center road. You 
can have a light cart with wheels six feet apart 
drawn by a horse, or men. With that spread to 
the wheels, they will each track just half way be- 
tween the rows at three feet apart. I do not think 
this is as good a way as carrying upon the shoulder; 
because with the cart you will spoil some celery, the 
other way none. Make the men handle boards care- 
fully so as not to split, and they are good f(jr years. 



70 CEIyERY GROWING. 

PUTTING THE BOARDS IN POSITION FOR BLANCHING. 

Now we have the boards delivered. Raise the 
outer edge of the boards and shove them under the 
celery leaves and press against the heads of celery, 
then raise up the outer edges, bringing boards to a 
perpendicular. JN'ow step astride of the boards, hold 
them in position with the legs, bring in a little earth 
with the feet, to hold the bottom from springing 
out as you press the tops together. Have the 
pan of hooks within reach, take out two, slip one 
over the boards about three feet from each end. 
The boards should be about four inches apart in 
case the celery is good size ; if not, a little closer, 
which can be done by turning the wire hooks a lit- 
tle crosswise on the boards. Now put up another 
set the same way, having the ends fitting square 
against the first ones, and so on. 

Always commence at center road to work, so if 
boards do not come out even it will occur at the 
opposite end of rows. You will probably need 
some shorter ones at the eilds, as the regular- 
length does not of course always come out just 
even. Hence saw to fit. 

It needs a little earth drawn up to the bottom of 
the boards with the scraper to keep the light from 
shining under. Bear in mind that the darker the 
row can be made the more perfect the blanching, 
and the quicker. The absence of light causes 



VATS FOR WASHING. 71 

celery to turn white. Heat favors blanching. Cold 
retards. Hot sun or wind will change the boards 
a little. Go over them in five days and right them. 
Now we have the crop well under way. There 
are several important matters near at hand that 
need our attention, such as gathering, washing, 
boxing, and marketing. All of these branches 
need to be in proportion to the amount of celery 
raised. 

VATS FOR WASHING. 

For from one. to ^ve acres have two washing 
vats made, three feet long by two wide, and one 
foot deep. Material should be pine, one and 
one-half inches thick. They should be located 
where the water is handy, as it requires plenty 
of water. You need a small building to bunch 
and tie it in. If growing only for home use 
just blanch and gather as needed until cold weather 
approaches, then store it away upon the cellar bot- 
tom with some earth on the roots, or build a small 
storehouse out of doors, as per description further on. 

PREPARING FOR HARVESTING AND MARKETING A CROP 
OF EIGHT TO FORTY ACRES. WATER FOR WASH- 
ING AND NECESSARY BUILDINGS. 

A windmill is a good way and cheap for getting 
a good supply of water. Usually, just where the 



72 CElyERY GROWING. 

lowlands commence to rise into the high, will be 
found the most abundant supply of water. This 
is a good location for the buildings necessary for 
convenience. 

In order to wash celery quickly and cheaply it 
must be done by hydraulic power. Hence arrange- 
ments need to be made with that in view. To 
commence, erect a frame sixteen feet high to sup- 
port a water tank. The tank, twelve feet high and ten 
in diameter at the base, will hold about two hun- 
dred barrels of water, with a pressure of twenty- 
two feet when half full, or twenty-eight when full. 
This gives plenty of force for washing celery. 
Have all the water pipes under ground out of the 
way of frost, except the one from the surface of the 
ground to the tank ; in freezing weather, that can 
be wraj)ped with some material to keep out the frost. 

A building for washing, bunching, tying and box- 
ing must be erected, thirty feet square, with a par- 
tition through the center, running east and west so 
as to get the sunshine in the washing and tying 
room in the south half of building, with boxing 
and shipping in the north half. Let there be two 
openings in the partition, three feet square each, 
through which to pass the celery, after tying, into 
the boxing room. Have sliding doors to close the 
openings when needed. Have the center of the 
openings one-fourth of the length of the partition 




•4 

6 



o 
< 

I— ( 

X 

If} 



^ 

K 
H 



HARVESTING CELERY. 75 

from the ends. The bottom of the opening should 
be two feet eleven inches above the floor. Now 
build a table upon each side of the partition, just 
the same height and two feet wide, of perfectly 
smooth boards. The one in the boxing room is to 
let the celery stand on while draining, and the one 
in the washing part is the tying table. See cuts 
]N''o. 7 and 8, which represent the washing and ty- 
ing processes. 

The washing and tying room needs to be well 
lighted. It is very fine to have a row of sashes 
running the whole of the south side so as to get 
plenty of light for washing, as there is the place 
to locate the washing rack. Let it occupy the 
whole length of the south side, unless it should be 
just room for a door through which to bring in the 
celery from the field. In case the building stands 
where the ends are accessible, have one door in each 
end just half way between the washing rack and 
the tying table, wdth both doors swinging outward. 
The washing rack is to be located against the south 
wall, two feet wide, twenty-eight inches high at the 
front edge and twenty-five at the back edge, with 
no floor under it, but a small ditch to carry off the 
wash water. The rack is made of strips, one by 
three inches, placed edgewise and two inches apart. 
Celery is to be laid upon this while being washed, 
crosswise of the slats, wdth the tops from the 



CJCI^lvKV GUOWING. 



washer. A pipo must coine under ground from the 
tank pipe up into this room near the center of the 
rack, and six inches above the floor; to this attach 
hose with a small nozzle which throws a solid 
stream. For washirig celery, place it U[)on the 
rack about two or three heads deep. Play the 
water upon it once over, then turn and repeat, 
which drives the dirt from it. 

This room is to have a stove in it as cold weather 
comes on, but the packing room has no stove, 
flave the pipe to which the hose is attached ter- 
minate in a hydrant with cock attached to turn 
water off and on the hose. Lay the floor of this 
room open, with cracks one-half inch. 

The washing vats before mentioned are very 
handy in this room occasionally, in case of break 
in the water works. Fill one vat two-thirds full of 
celery with tops all one way. Fill with water. 
Have a limber corn-brush broom. Take your po- 
sition at the end of the vat where the butts of the 
celery are, run the brush over two or three heads 
at a time, held in one hand just under water, so 
the motion of the water will aid in cleaning. 
Have the other vat stand close beside filled with 
water to rinse in, as it cannot be cleaned thorough- 
ly in one water. 

All of these rooms and their paraphernalia should 
be in fine working order a little ahead of the har- 




00 

o 
< 



BUNCHING AND TYING. 79 

vest, US that is ti very busy ])art of the season, 
and unless tilings are in readiness confusion will 
take possession where order should reign supreme. 

HOW TO MAKE A BOX IN WHICH TO KUNCH AND 

TIE cp:lery. 

It is necessary to tie celery in some slia})e for 
its appearance in market, and I thiidc- there is no 
better mode than ])utting twelve heads in a bunch 
and tying with two cords or tape. (See cut JN^o. 9.) 
The bunching box is five and one-half inches wide^ 
the same in height and ten inches long. The bot- 
tom piece is one inch thick. The sides can be of 
wood, although heavy rubber belting is much better, 
as the celery is not bruised by coming in contact 
with it as with a hard substance. 

AJ.EOTTJNCr SPACE TO TYERS. 

Each tyer must have a 1k)X, and there is rooiri 
for four tyers at this thirty-foot tying table ; hen(;e 
each tyer has seven feet and six inches space, 
dividdd as follow s : Mark off four feet and six inches 
from each end of the tying table. That space is 
to lay the celery as it comes to the tyer from the 
washing rac^k. 'Now set a tying l)ox with the end 
outward, and the bottom centering upon this mark. 
Measure from each mark six feet farther along, set 
a tying l)ox n})on each mark. This space is for two 
tyers to stand their celery after it is tied and taken 



80 CEIvKRY GROWING. 

from the box; it will stand oj^posite the openings 
into the packing or boxing room. The remaining 
nine feet of space at the center of the table is for 
the laying of the celery from the washing rack for 
the two center tyers. 

ADJUSTING FOR THE FOOT LEVER. 

In tying celery there is too much resistance to 
bring the cord tight enough with the fingers to hold 
it. We must have foot leverage. Arrange as 
follows : Take 12 or 14 oz. ducking. Make a band 
two inches wide, having it three thicknesses, stitched 
along the edges and through the middle, three feet 
long. This makes a soft and strong band. Now cut 
an opening through the tying table, two inches from 
the edge, each side of the tying box. Put one end 
of the ducking band down through each hole thus 
made, and astride the box filled with celery. Take 
a strip of board four inches wide, and as long as 
the tying table is wide; this is for the foot lever. 
Fasten with a hinge at the back end, to the wall, 
six inches from the floor, having the lever exactly 
under the tying box. Put a staj^le in the lever two 
inches back from a periDcndicular from where the 
band hangs suspended. JN^ow sew a leather strap 
one inch wide between the two ends of the band, 
slide a buckle upon the strap, put the end through 
the staple, and buckle so as to get the right length 



ffi^ 



|||!l|||||||il|j|||||il||||l|!:!ili!|ll|!!l|!il|il|ll|ll!|l|iill|l!:^1!B^ 




BUNCHING BOX. {Cut JSo. 9 



ADJUSTING FOR Till-: ]'"<)OT I,I':viCK. 83 

when ilio loot is U[>oiiL tho end of l(3V(;r. (Jul (hjvvn 
the sides of the box whore tlio hiiud goes over it, 
so the pressure will all be uj)ou the celery from tho 
top. 

It is customary to have two grades of launches, 
the first with twelve or thirteen heads, and tho 
second with an indefinite riumb(5r of small heads, 
having the bunch a little smaller than the first grade. 

When filling the box hit the butts stick over the 
end an inch, and when ready to tie raise tho band 
up over the butts of the celery, letting the pressure 
come upon tho bunch an inch or so back from tho 
ends ; .put foot upon lever ; thus you see tho celery 
in the box can be pressed snugly together, and held 
so by the foot, while the cord is )>eing tied around 
it. The rubber belting for sides of bo.\, with duck- 
ing strap, does not bruise it either. K^ow [)ringthe 
cord over the end, tie in a hard knot, draw ofl* the 
band over the butts ; now tie cord without pressure 
at the tops, but not very tight, as it does not look 
well for the bunch to see it j)inched in small. Take 
it out of the box, stand it upon the table in its 
allotted place, pinch off all the leaves that give it 
a shabby appearance, so that it will look symmet- 
rical and neat and show well in the iriarket. When 
celery is at its best, it is easily bruised in harvest- 
ing and washing, and, unless in very careful hands, 
suffers some by tho time it is ready for the market. 



84 CKIvKKV GROWING. 

BEAUTY OF ROPE CRATES. 

{See cut No. 10.) 

By the use of this appliance celery can be han- 
dled in bulk from the field until it lands upon the 
tying table. It saves all of that handling and pull- 
ing apart of a few heads at a time, breaking 
' stalks, tearing off leaves, and the general multila- 
tion of the heads after they once become entangled 
together. Any one can make them. Always have 
a goodly lot, as they are cheap and so very handy. 
I have for my thirty-four acres about sixty. 

THEIR CONSTRUCTION OF ROPE. 

Each crate has three round pieces of wood two 
feet long, about the size of a broom-handle, one at 
each end and one through the middle, with a little 
notch cut in to keep the rope from slipping where- 
ever it is attached to them. The crate is carried 
by the sticks at the ends ; the center one keeps it 
spread out all the time. Little tamarack poles when 
peeled.make good ones. The ropes are in size about 
that of a clothes line; cut them thirty-six inches 
long, tie knots in the ends ; then loop with one knot 
around the stick, and draw tight. You can pick 
out all the points of construction by looking sharjj 
at the cut. 

Cut No. 11 shows a man handling a crate of celery. 
After being trimmed in the field, it is laid upon the 
crate, then brought to the wash house in wheel- 




ROPE CRATE. [Cut No. 10.) 



BUNCHING AND PACKING. 87 

barrow, cart or Avagon. The crates can be laid 
upon each other without harm, until you have a 
load. For washing lay one tier of crates upon the 
rack at a time. Wash while upon the crates, then 
when washed, lay it upon the tyers' tables, still in 
the crates, and they take it from the crates as they 
bunch it. It can, however, be rolled out of the 
crate upon the table without much .harm if done 
with care. 

There is another way to handle the trimmed celery, 
that is, in boxes, and it is well to have some of them 
on hand for extra occasions. Use three-fourths inch 
pine lumber for bottoms and ends, and one-half 
inch for sides. Make boxes thirty-six inches long, 
twelve wide and same in height. Nail strong. 
Secure the corners by wire staples, as the nails are 
liable to pull out while in use. Celery can be stood 
up or laid down. These boxes come in better play 
when trimming out of the storehouse than in any 
other place. This same kind of a box is used in 
carrying the celery into the storehouse Avhen secur- 
ing the crop for winter. 

PASSING THE BUNCHES INTO THE PACKING ROOM, ALSO 
FINISHING ITS CONSTRUCTION. 

As the space upon the tying table gets filled, 
pass it through the opening into the packing or box- 
ing room and stand it upon the table there, which 



88 CEI^EKY GROWING. 

we will call the draining table. As it takes some 
time for the water to drain out after it is bunched, 
it should always be set upright, and there needs to 
be more room than the one drain table already men- 
tioned. Build another just like it against the 
opposite wall, then by laying paper upon the floor 
underneath, and standing the celery upon that, you 
find room for as much more. 

HAVING THE PACKING ROOM ICED. 

By doing off a space in this room to store a few 
tons of ice, you will derive a great advantage from 
it, as celery is quite perishable in hot weather. By 
storing it with ice in the winter, and replenishing 
as it melts out in summer, and keeping the open- 
ings closed between the two rooms except when 
passing through the celery bunches, it can be kept 
cold and go into the packing boxes or cases cold, 
consequently not sutfer from the warm weather. 

BUILDING HOUSE FOR BOX LUMBER, TO MAKE THE 

BOXES IN, ETC. 

Close by the packing department needs to be a 
building, about thirty feet square, to hold the box 
lumber and make the boxes in, repair return boxes, 
etc. The building need only be common, to keep 
out storms, etc. Have all boxes returned when the 
freight is less than new ones. 




CARRYING CELERY IN ROPE CRATE. (Gut No. 11.) 



BOXING CEIvEKY. 91 

SELECTING AND PREPARING LUMBER FOR BOXES. 

Basswood lumber makes good boxes if it is 
plump inch. Surface both sides, then resaw ; by so 
doing, one thousand feet makes two. This has plenty 
of strength for the sides of boxes or cases, but for 
the rims of cases, have them three-fourths inch 
thick, and the same for ends. For bottoms of boxes, 
pine will make good material. 

During the warm weather it is best to ship in flat 
cases, say twenty-six or twenty -eight inches one way 
by thirty the other, and seven or eight inches thick, 
according to size, of bunches. Boxes or cases must al- 
ways be made to fit the celery, as it must not be loose 
in the" box so as to scrub around. Hence the size 
will dej^end upon the season, fertility of land, etc. 

For the first year it is best to saw the lumber 
into lengths such as you need, after your crop is 
grown, and you know what is required ; but after 
that you perhaps can tell about what you will need 
and have it sawed into lengths at the mill. In 
order to ascertain what size of case is required, lay 
out the bunches close together, just as it is to be 
placed into the case, then measure the space it 
occupies, and make case accordingly. 

BOXING CELERY. 

When boxing to ship by cars, always let the tops 
lap past and upon each other, and the butts always 



92 CEIyERY GROWING. 

to the end of box. Have the tops lajD enough to 
keep even with the butts, and when filled be no sag 
or looseness in the center of box. Just one single 
layer of bunches is all that is put into a case, usually 
ten dozen. As cool weather comes on, ship in boxes 
that hold from twelve to twenty dozen, but those 
that hold sixteen are the best. Have the box a few 
inches longer than the celery, line with thin brown 
paper so that the sides will not chafe ; put in with 
care two rows of bunches abreast. The size I use 
for No. 1 celery is thirty inches long, twenty-four 
high, and twelve wide. That is the size for sixteen 
dozen. Press in so that there will be no chucking 
around while in transit. When loading into and 
unloading from the wagon for shipment do it with 
care. While going to shipping place with load, 
always cover with canvas to keep cool, especially 
in warm weather. 

PACKING ROOM SHOULD BE FROST PROOF. 

The outside walls of the packing room and its 
roof must be frost proof. A very good way to have 
it so is to make it with two sets of studding, twelve 
inches apart, filled in with sawdust and lined inside 
with parchment building paper ; for the roof, fill 
in with forest leaves. These modes are of course 
cheap and efficient, yet there are other ways of 
obtaining the same results. 



PACKING ROOM SHOUI.D EK FROST PROOF. 93 

There is liable to be extensive loss, besides an 
endless amount of vexation, unless a celery grower 
is prepared to meet the ch.-^.nging elements, and the 
general condition of things as they come along. 
We can make money by expending money in judi- 
cious outlays. Ifyouarein earnest in growing cel- 
ery, don't be afraid that it will net pay you to take 
the best ot care of it. The crop can be kept until 
mid winter, or even into May, but everyone must 
learn for themselves by experience whether it is pro- 
fitable to keep late or not. 

By having the packing room frost proof, there 
will be two valuable benefits derived : It will be 
cool in summer, and warm in winter. In case you 
are still marketing when a real cold time comes 
along, you are prepared to be safe from a loss. By 
leaving a little fire in the washing room stove at 
night to keep the water works from freezing, and 
having all of the celery put into the packing room, 
you will ])e able to keep right along at your busi- 
ness without suffering loss. If you are a little fear- 
ful that the frost will get into the packing room on 
any particularly cold night, leave more fire in the 
washing room stove, and leave the slide doors open, 
or pack the celery in the boxes. Have them well 
lined with paper, as it will take several degrees 
extra cold to reach it when so secured. In fact 
boxes should always be lined in winter in shipping 



94 CEi^EKY GROWING. 

any distance, even in mild times, as it is liable to 
turn very cold within a few hours, 

A TOOL HOUSE NEEDED. 

Have the buildings all stand near together. I 
find there is one yet lacking to make the set com- 
plete, that is, a tool house, from sixteen to twenty 
feet square, for the celery tools and the parapher- 
nalia required incident to a successful business. 
Around the walls have hooks and nails to hang up 
spades, crates, canvas covers, saws, etc. **A place 
for everything, and everything in its place," is a 
good motto to place in full view in this building. 

IKRIOATING THE CROP. 

I w^ish to call attention to this point : Those who 
find they liav^e the land, and are going to follow this 
branch of horticulture, in case there is any way to 
irrigate the land should get it in readiness as soon 
as possible. My own experience in this gives me 
data from which to advise. The two years of 1888 
and 1889 were years of noted droughts here ; no 
rain to wet for several months; each year I lost 
twelve acres. My crop was several thousand dol- 
lars short of what it would have been had the 
ground been irrigated. During this time I was 
studying how it could be done. There was no stream 



IRRIGATING TH^ CROP. 95 

of water that could be utilized. The only show was 
from beneath. In the mean time I learned that 
there Avas gravel under most of these peat beds. 
There was in my field, just where the high land 
breaks into the low, a moist place ; it was at the 
head of a drain ditch, which runs one hundred and 
twenty rods through the center of the whole length 
of my celery field. I dug down three feet in this 
moist spot, came to gravel, went two feet farther, 
when water came in very fast. 

I now saw I had a bonanza in water, consequently 
planned to dig a reservoir at once, and j)\it in some 
kind of a pump to lift the water out into the ditch. 
A hole was now dug down, seven feet deep, twenty 
feet long and ten feet wide. It had to be curbed, 
as the inflow of water was so great, after getting 
down 'Q.VG feet, that the banks would not stand the 
flow of water undermining them. 

I had a fourteen-foot windmill erected, put in an 
incline pump of my own make, and irrigated my 
celery crop in 1890 for the first. After running the 
IDump a few weeks, and still no rains, the inflow of 
water diminished, and the cry was *^more water.'' 
So I explored the gravel dej^th, which was quite 
coarse, and found it continuous. I then drove down 
into the bottom of the reservoir, at different levels, 
from eight to twenty-six feet, twelve pipes with 
points attached, such as are used fur drive wells ; in 



Hizcv^ six were oiio ;ui(l onc-iourlli, and six wcro two 
inclics ill dininctcr. Tlicy wor(3 distributed over 
the siirfaeo ol' IIkj l)()tt()iu of the reservoir, and 
driven so that only six inclies ol' llie top end ot tlie 
])ipo was above the gnn^el, and ea(;li one oftheiu 
threw a full stream without any diminution of vol- 
ume, of water whieli liad como in at tlio surface of 
the bottom. Now there was plenty of water; did 
not see the bottom again. I now becamo convinced 
that tiio windmill lacked })()vver except on very 
windy days. It should lia\'e been twenty feet in 
sizo instead of fourteen. As I liad no engine (which 
by tlio way in just the thing) 1 borrowed an old- 
fashioned horse-power of a neighbor, and used that 
with two horses for the balance of the season with 
pei-f(M',t success. 

The pump was fashioned as follows (I had seen 
tlio same princij)le demonstrated in draining gold 
mines in California) : Take two hardwood boards, 
such as will wear smooth, ono inch thick after be- 
ing surfa(ted, tw(>lvo inches wide and fourteen feet 
long. One of these is for the bottom of the i)ump 
spout, the other is for the top ; lay a four-inch block 
bcdween the two. Screw on side pieces same length 
and you have a spout twelve by four inches inside 
in tho clear. Now screw and brace, just over the 
o[)eiung at ono cud, two upright i)ieces, ono upon 
eac'h side, to hold a wood boxing in which to run 



IKUIGATINO TlIlC CKUr. 



an iron sliaft of Ihroo-iiich gns ]>iiH', wliicli is to 
(^'irry a (Iriim made) of wo(j<l, thirty inches in dia- 
meter. U[)(ni tlio end ofthi.s drum, next to the 
power, serew fast a eog-rim eight(^en inches in diani- 
eter. The gearing sliaft comes riglit up to this 
cog-wlieel, terminating in a pinion wheel about four 
inches in diameter wliicli communicates power to 
tho drum, and the drum renvoi ves an endless rubber 
belt twelve inches wide, Avhich has woodcMi 2)ieces 
two inches thick and a little less than twelve inches 
long and three and one half inches wide, with one 
edge chai rife red, and the other screwed fast, cross- 
wise to the belt, every eighteen inches. 

Now, to finish, screw solid two pieces at the lower 
end of spout, one upon each side, to carry a pulley 
eight inches in diameter; u[)on this revolves the 
rubber belting that holds the buckets, which ^orce 
the water out through the spout in a solid stream. 
Have iron shaft go through the pulley, about one 
inch in diameter and I'un in w<joden boxes. This 
part will always he under water, conse(|uently needs 
no oil. JNTow slo[)e away the bank nt one (;nd of 
the reservoir, put a b(3d piece for the u[)per end to 
restu|)on ilfteen inches below thesurface of the land. 
The low(3r bed piece can be the (-urbing cut down 
enough so that th(j lower end of tlie pum[> spout 
will be six inches above the bottcnu of tlie reservoir. 

Go slowly when lirst starting the pump, as it is 



98 CEI^KKY GROWING. 

liribleto give such motion to tlio water that the 
gravel will whirl into the pump and clog it, but as 
soon as the water can ho lowered enough, shovel out 
a pit and stake down a floor four or five feet square, 
under the end where the water boils as the buckets 
come around. 

I run the water back to the far end of the field 
through the center ditch, then cut an open lateral 
ditch each way from it twelve inches wide and fif- 
teen deep, nearly to the far side of celery field, which 
is forty rods each way, the main ditch being in the 
center of eighty acres. In about half my lateral 
ditches I have put six-inch tile, which works to a 
charm. This first ditch is six rods from the end 
ot the celery field. Then there is a lateral ditch 
every twelve rods upon each side, same as first, 
clear back to head of field. I have water enouirh 
to run three ditches at the same time. The water 
soaks through the ground and meets at center line 
between the two laterals in about four days. I dam 
those up and set three new ones in motion, and so 
on. I have several rises interspersed through my 
grounds, of gravelly soil, and too high for celery 
because I cannot wet them. Tliis whole system of 
irrigation costs but little, and in a droughty year 
is worth from two to three hundred dollars per acre, 
so you see that the extra production of one acre will 
more than pay for it in one crop. During a run of 



KKVIEWINc; TinC C1':Iv1^:RY KIICIvD and TIIJC WOKKMICN. 99 

wet years no irrigation is re(|uired, but in sucli 
droughty ones as 1888, 1889 and 1890 everything 
needs irrigating. 

There is another system by which land can be 
irrigated Ironi an open or a drive well or any head 
of water supply, just in proportion to tlio supply 
and capacity of machine. It is Gould's Centrifugal 
Pump. I })resume any home dealer- in that line 
could inform you about it. It is comparatively a 
new device, however. There is a man in my town 
who puts them in, by the name of L. M. Waldron. 
lie hel[)ed me put mine in that has been described. 

There are some places where irrigating can be 
done from a spring or creek upon the premises. 
Of course those are choice places. 

REVIEWING THE CELERY FIELD AND THE WORKMEN, 

We have the crop now well under way, being 
nearly ready to commence raking in the shekels. 
This gives an impetus to business. There needs to 
be from the very starting of the business a head to 
it, in order to inspire a high grade of success. If 
this is not the owner himself, then he should have 
a wel!-])aid superintendent — well-paid in order 
that we can reasonably expect his very best ef- 
forts. To have capacity, he must be the possessor 
of order, system, ingenuity, a desire to turn out 
a superior production, and earn his money. 
By tlie way, those fellows are not very plentiful. 



100 CKIyEwv c.K'ovv'rNG. 

I trust T in.'iy ]h) ])nr(l<)iir(l for giving iny oxperl- 
ciU'O in this line. Vv'ira i'nv ordinary f;irni labor 
heroin Micliigaii isonodollar and twcnty-fivo cents 
])rrday. Now my plan is this: (Jet the best hands 
and pay the best wages — thai is, ])ay each one just 
"vv hat they can earn, man or woman, by exercising 
prudeiKH^, thoughtfulness, diligent aXtention to busi- 
ness, lh(5 exam|)le tlix^y set Ix^ton^ th(^ rest ol* the 
workmen, a,nd with a, willing hand and heart to help 
in every emergency. My cheapest male help has 
one dollai* and lil'ty ceids jkm* day. If he cannot 
earn that J don't kee}> Jiim. J\ever have a man 
that goes into a saloon, or who associates with the 
class who do, as the contamination is fatal. I pay 
from the oneiil'ty ])er(lay nj) to six huiidivd dollars 
pel' year; most of my day lahoi-ers, however, get 
two dollars per day. Men hy the month, from 
twenty to forty dollars a.nd board. ^riKu^onsequence 
is my help slay right alongyear after year, andall 
Lay \\[> money. 

On the avei-age I employ twelve hands. From 
three to four are women, who live upon the place. 
They se[)arate the plants, and ])ut them into the 
pans, whih^ the men set them out. They also weed 
out ih(^ plant beds, and do all the bunching and 
tying. 1'hey are choice help. Of course I do not 
put Ihem at anyol'the hard woi'k. Those 1 em[)loy 
ha\'e been with me lour years. At lilty cents per 



KKVlKWiNc; 'Ji: , c j<;t,KKY )'iuj,i) and Tiu^, wokrmicn. 101 

hundred ibr})uii(:hiii^';ui(l ty 111,1; (-clcry some oriheni 
earn two d(jllur.s [x'l* d.-iy. Tlicy nro neater and 
more painstaking with their work, usually, tlian 
men; (consequently their lielp is worth more, rather 
than less, than ]rien's. I h.ive three good houses 
upon the place, o(-(5Upie([ l>y i'uriilies. I also have 
h(dp, both male and female, that have worked for 
mo four y(\Mrs without giving me an unkind or 
sauey word, and they have not been balned either. 
Every one must attend strictly to })usiness in})usi- 
ness hours. Thc^y are not of the hnv, l>esotted 
whisky grades ]lel|) which do not save their earn- 
ings arc usually of the very poorest order. 

There is no time, after the celery has been set in 
the fuild until the last head has been gathered, that 
the superintendent should not give all parts of the 
field a personal ins[)ection every oth(;r day, so that 
in case anything is going wrong it c;ui be rightcid 
before getting toofnr gone. When pl.-iids ;jr(5 first 
set, the earth is to he scraped ba(;k; if not well done, 
and a heavy wash ingrain-storm comes on, plants are 
liable to be covered at the heart with soil and 
spoiled. 

There is a yellow worm, known as the wire-worm, 
which is an enemy to tli(i young ])lant, <ms it bores 
into its tap root just below the crown, and kills it. 
The remedy is, set in the largest ])lants you have.', 
and twico as many as needed; after danger is past, 



102 ce;ivEry gkovv'ixg. 

thin to right distance. Also kill all worms found. 
It is only occasionally they do damage, and then in 
patches. 

The common brown corn cut-worm is occasionally 
mischievous, but does very little serious harm; as 
the heart of the plant is not injured, it grows right 
along. If cut off too many times, however, its 
growth is so retarded that a new plant is needed in 
its place. 

See also that the weeds are not getting a start. 
Have the places of all dead or puny plants filled 
with strong ones. Keep the skirtings of the celery 
field mown down, as grasshoppers breed upon the 
grass, and eat the celery leaves if allowed to hatch 
out. 

If sheep are pastured in an adjourning field, see 
to it that the fences are perfect, as they would be 
very destructive in case they broke in at night. 

Look for jDurslane ; if any has escaj)ed and is 
now in bloom it will mature its seed if pulled and 
left u]3on the ground. Carry it all ofi". Do the 
same with all bad weeds if left until going to seed. 

See to it that the blanching boards keep their 
position. There must be no openings under for the 
light to shine in, thereby retarding the whitening 
of the celery. In case the lower edge of the board 
is warping out, put it back and bring u^^ earth 
enough with the foot and tread down to hold it. 



REVIEWING THE CEI<ERY FIEI.D AND THE WORKMEN. 103 

See to it that you have an acre or so, near the 
washing house, that is early enough to be harvested 
out of the way by first of October. You want this 
site to build the storehouses uj^on, in which the 
balance of the crop is stored upon the approach of 
cold weather. 

Plan to have all storehouses near by head- 
quarters. Otherwise, in cold weather celery might 
freeze in bringing to wash room unless carefully 
protected. 

In the cultivating process with the horse, be sure 
and select a careful hand, one that will be sorry to 
see a head of celery mutilated. Turn the horse at 
the end of row so as not to tread it down. There 
are always destructive agents enough at work with- 
out hiring it done. 

Have the tools of the best order, and see to it that 
they are in proper condition to do good work. Be 
ujDon the ground the first in the morning, with j^lans 
all matured for the day. See as each hand arrives 
that they take hold of their work understandingly. 
You can well afi'ord to give close attention to the 
business during the growing season, as there are 
several months each year when you are compara- 
tively free. I have always superintended my own 
celery growing from the fact that I never have 
been able to hire a man that was quite as much in- 
terested in my success as I am myself. 



104 CEI^ERY GROWI'NG. 

A tract of good land treated as here advised will 
pay a clear net profit of three to six hundred dollars 
per acre. This is clear of all expense of producing 
and marketing. I have had choice acres Avhich 
have netted me twelve hundred dollars per acre, 
but that is as nothing ; we must look at the average 

of the whole trnct for a succession of vears. 

t/ 

For the year 1890 I had thirty -four acres in cel- 
ery. By count there were thirteen hundred thousand 
plants upon the thirty-four acres of ground. A 
good share of the rows were three feet apart ; all 
that were earth banked were four feet. I also had 
several acres set to double rows, that is, two rows 
nine inches apart, with three feet between, but shall 
raise no more that way, as the heads do not grow 
quite large enough to satisfy the market. There 
are about forty thousand per acre when set to dou- 
ble rows in such distance as named. 

COMMENCING THE HARVEST. 

We need two wheelbarrows, with enough thin 
boards four feet long to cover the bottom crosswise, 
upon which to lay the crates of celery to be trans- 
ferred to the wash-house. We must have the sharp 
spade and a few pans to put the hooks in as taken 
from the boards, also an old-fashioned case knife 
for each hand to trim Avith, about eight crates 
for each wheelbarrow load of celery, and canvas 
to cover with, especially in sunshiny weather. 



COMMENCING THE HARVEST. 105 

Take off hooks, put into a pan, open the boards 
and let lay flat upon the ground. When the celery 
is ripe, in case of White Plume the heart stalks 
are white, also the leaves ; but of other kinds the 
stalks are white or yellow, but the leaves remain 
green. 

Now if the celery is ripe upon examination, slide 
the spade under a root or two at a time, cutting a 
little below the surface ; have a hand or two follow 
up, and trim off the root, also the outside stalks, 
leaving the edible part only. For example, take 
head in one hand, set knife in a little above where 
the outside stalk is attached to the root, cut at a 
slant all around, leaving the butt in cone shape, 
strip off all the stalks that are not blanched (the 
outside ones never blanch and are to be stripped 
off), cutting from where the last stalk breaks from 
the head, leaving trimmed j^art smooth. 

There is another way, that is, to cut the root 
square off at first, one-inch below the last stalk, 
then break off the unblanched stalks, trim all the 
rough off so as to leave smooth but still cone shape. 

There is still another way ; cut it square off at first 
close to the head, then break off unblanched leaves, 
then cut again so as to leave no root at all to the 
head. In this last way of trimming, some heads 
are spoiled, as you are liable to cut too far up and 



106 CEI.ERV GROWING. 

all the stalks fall oif separate. Hence it is not as 
good as the cone shaped ways. 

Now, when trimmed, place upon the blanching 
board in little piles within reach as you work your 
way along, then in turn gather these into the crates, 
laying the crates upon the refuse leaves and stalks. 
Keep them covered with canvas, as celery wilts 
very readily in sun or wind ; consequently, let no 
small piles lay more than eight or ten minutes. At 
first a few dozen will be enough to harvest, say one 
row, thirty or forty rods in length. 

Now, after it is trimmed out, put the boards 
right up on the next now, just the same as they 
were on the first, spread the wash rack with crates 
singly, wash as directed lay crates upon tying 
table, and with the tying box in position, put in 
twelve heads, three abreast and four high. In 
case there is a small one in the bunch, so it is not 
quite even, fill out with another small one. Now 
put the band over for giving pressure, put foot 
upon lever, bring the heads snug together. Always 
have the butts come out of the box one inch so the 
tying cord will wrap around, tie in hard knot, have 
a sharp knife lying upon the table to cut the cord. 
Have the ball in a little box opposite tacked to the 
wall three feet above the table. Unwind it from 
the center as used. There is a narrow white and 
purple tape that is nice to tie with in case you 



MARKETING THE) CROP. 107 

send to a fancy market. It comes upon spools 
of one thousand yards each, and costs two dollars 
and twenty-five cents (three times as much as 
cord). 

MAEKETING THE CROP. 

In sending out your first shipments, it is well to 
make some small cases that will hold four or six 
dozen each ; but for home markets, where you de- 
liver with your own conveyance, lay loose in boxes. 
Supply home markets liberally. You will be sur- 
prised at the amount they will use if your celery 
is nice. 

It is best to send some away by express at first 
gathering, so as to see how it stands in the markets 
abroad. Line your cases with wrapping paper so 
as to keep the celery from getting marred. In 
packing, set the case upon the floor at a slant, lean- 
ing against some support, j)ut in the paper lining. 
When the case is made one side is not nailed on, 
but the boards are fitted and laid in the case for 
the cover. After the case is packed (and the 
celery should be crowded in tight) set it upon a 
box made for that purpose about one foot high, lay 
a lining paper over the celery, nail on the cover, 
then stand it on the edge as when it was packed. 
Have a rubber stencil with your address, and stamp 



108 CEI.ERY GROWING. 

upon the upjier rim, as it wants to ride that way 
lip. Have empty cases retmnied to you. Now 
put all the small heads of celery into bunches by 
themselves for second grade. 

Stamp each case or box first or second grade, 
just as it is. Right from the start, deal square 
with the trade. If there is an imperfect head and 
it is put into the bunch, have it j^ut upon the out- 
side so as to be seen. Yet the best way is to never 
put in a head that is defective, especially one that 
is rusting or rotting. There are so many people 
nowadays that do just as they do not want to have 
others do to them, that when a buyer finds a pro- 
ducer who puts up his products honestly, so that 
he can, with a feeling of assurance, guarantee to his 
patrons that the goods under a certain brand are 
just as good all the way through as they show up- 
on the surface, it will be away in the dim future 
that such a producer will ever think of the need of 
looking for a new market. 

Marketing is a study by itself. The eye is to be 
pleased. That sense is in the advance. The at- 
tractiveness of an article frequently makes its own 
sale, even when not possessing within itself any 
real merit over its loss pretentious neighbor. Such 
is the case with the white-leaved celery. There are 
several kinds far ahead of it in edibility, but un- 
fortunately do not jDossess that beautiful attractive 



MARKETING THE) CROP. 109 

api^earance of the White Plume,, which is such a 
fine decorator of the table. 

It pays well for every one engaged in the celery 
business to establish a reputation of their own in 
the markets which they intend to use. You can 
well afford to make a special effort to work up a 
remunerative market, in case your product will 
warrant the expense. 

The best way to find out what others are doing 
in the celery business, is to take a bunch of your 
celery of an average grade, tie a bunch of damp 
l)eat moss upon the butts, then wrap all in 2^aper 
to protect from the air and getting marred, and 
take the early train for your nearest city ; inquire 
for the fancy grocer of the town, and show up to 
him just what you have, also what you can do in 
supplying him with such goods, and at what price 
free on board the cars at your place — that is, the 
purchaser paying the expressage or freight. It is 
well to show your goods to a half dozen dealers 
while in town. Carry this inquiry along at least 
until you are satisfied that you have found your 
markets. It will do you but very little if any good 
to make this trip without a sample of celery. 

Don't neglect to look up the financial standing of 
your patrons. Where you visit a town as advised, 
you can do it while there. In case you propose to 
send away to strangers, look up their standing from 



110 cei,e;ry growing. 

one of the commercial reports, such as Bradstreet 
or Dun. They now have agencies in all cities of 
any size. It will pay you to buy one of their July 
books, if you have a few acres and don't want to 
sell it all at your home market. 

In case you have fine goods, there is very little 
danger of your losing anything through your 
patrons not paying, even in case they are slow. If 
you furnish them wdth a choice grade of goods, they 
will sell them out readily, consequently be able to 
pay, and so not be fixed to find any good excuse ; 
still wanting you to keep on furnishing them, you 
are pretty sure of the pay prom^Dtly. There are 
what are considered poor or uncertain payers, and 
would be, on a poor article. 

Be sure and have it throughly understood that 
you will expect a remittance upon each Monday of 
pay in full for the celery of the past week. Have 
it so written upon your letter-heads, then they can- 
not overlook it or forget it. 

One-tenth of one per cent, is all I lost in seven 
years in the business, selling to two or three hun- 
dred buyers and in twenty-two different States. 
You see that is only one dollar on a thousand. 

Don't make a practice of sending all your crop 
to a commission house, as some of them are unreli- 
able, having no capital and changing from place to 
place, and have no standing in the commercial re- 



MARKETING THR CROP. Ill 



ports. Yet some of them are No. 1, will get good 
prices and are prompt pay. You will find such 
reported as to their probable capital and grade of 
pay. But you have to pay them ten per cent, for 
selling, which if done by yourself is so much saved, 
and in case you have fine goods you can get just as 
much or more than they. 

There are times and places, however, when and 
where they come in just right. For example, you 
have some choice celery and want to extend your 
trade. Now go to the expres's agent of your town, 
ask him to send to the company and get a list of 
the names of dealers in such goods as fruits and 
horticultural products. They have them on hand 
ready for distribution, getting their reward by your 
patronage. You may not be able to tell whether 
they are commission men or grocers ; but after get- 
ting names of dealers and places, write them stating 
what you have, asking them to reply and let you 
know what the prospects are with them for selling 
celery, and at about what price. Ask if they are 
commission men or grocers. You can always ship 
to commission houses without notice whenever you 
can get their names. They will sell and report, 
usually remitting proceeds at same time, but with 
grocers it is far difi*erent. They usually will not 
receive the goods unless upon their order, from 
the fact that a great deal is sent them such as they 



112 CEIyEKV GROWING. 

can easily get and are already supplied with. Yours 
roay be ever so nice, such as had never been seen in 
that market ; 3^et the grocer does not know it, as it 
is boxed, hence cannot be seen. 

I have had some such experience myself at va- 
rious times. A few years ago I sent a ten-dozen 
case to a grocer in Ohio. He would not receive it. 
Told the expressman there that he had ordercil 
none from me. This was in the early days of my 
growing it, and before this high fancy grade with 
all the new appliances was produced by any one 
else, consequently could only be gotten from my 
grounds. So the expressman telegraphed to my 
home expressman the condition of things, asking 
what to do with the celery. I telegraphed him to 
sell it to some other grocer for sample. The out- 
come of it was that a grocer just across the street got 
it, and when opened up for sale it was a surprise. 
'No one had ever seen any thing like it in the town, 
and it created a celerv excitement. There was not 
enough to go around, so he sent for more and I 
supplied him, greatly to the sorrow of the grocer 
who had rejected the first case. He was more sur- 
prised than any one else to know that he had let 
such a chance sli]:) through his hands unwittingly. 
He sent an order at once and continued to occasion- 
ally for thi:ee years, but I could never send him 
any, as I only supply one house in a town at a time. 



MARKKTING THE CROP. 113 

I soon learned how to avoid such difficulties, and 
it is a good way to do. Have your home express- 
man whom you patronize write the agent at the 
town wdiere you propose to ship, requesting him to 
vouch for the excellence of the celery to the con- 
signee, with the understanding to open the box and 
in- case he is not pleased reject it, but so far there 
has not been a rejection. 

One more sample of this will suffice. I showed 
sample to a grocery house in Cleveland, Ohio, in 
the year 1886, started on an order of forty dozen 
per day, and in eight days their order increased to 
four hundred dozen. Of course then I had to call a 
halt. 

Hence it settles right down to this : If you pro- 
duce a fancy grade of celery, send it into any town 
in the whole country, to commission man or grocer, 
and you will hear from it quickly, also have an 
order for more in nearly every case. If it is a com- 
mission man, every grocer in town will see it, and 
they will find out in some way where it came from, 
and they will order from you. Then look up their 
financial standing in the commercial agency report, 
and take your choice as to whom you will supply, 
and if your celery is fine you Avill be able to set your 
own price. Hence I think it is apparent that all 
of the minor details, as well as the great, need the 
best thought and attention of the" one in charge. 



114 CEI<ERY GROWING. 

Celery, after it is ripe, is not liable to remain in 
a perfe(3t state more than four or five days during 
the hot weather of July and August. One of the 
first appearances of deterioration is a whitish lime- 
sprinkled appearance upon the outer stalks next 
the ground. This is apt to show distinctly in case 
of hot and wet weather. The stalks at that point 
will soon get soft or pithy, consequently keep 
gathered as fast as ripe. The White Plume variety 
deteriorates much sooner from over-ripeness than 
most other varieties. 

It is to be particularly noted that it is against 
your best interests to send any of the second grade 
celery into your best markets, excepting you are 
sending large quantities in car lots. Expressage 
is expensive, rates are too high, and we cannot feel 
reconciled to give them all of our business, and are 
all the time looking for some way out to a cheajDer 
scale. For example, in the large cities there are 
wholesale dealers who buy in car lots and sell it 
out to the grocers, hotels and large restaurants, 
and whenever a grower finds an opening of that 
kind, he is well fixed. They usually want both 
first and second grades, and that is good for the 
grower. If you have a large acreage, such orders 
can be filled more readily, especially when trim- 
ming from the field. 

If you have ten hands trimming, one to pick up 



MARKETING THE CROP. 115 

and put into crates, one to draw crates to washing 
house, two washers and four tyers, you are pre- 
pared to harvest from ten to sixteen hundred dozen 
per day. If you have your packing room iced as 
it should be for summer, you will not need to hurry 
it so fast, as a full load for a twenty-four thousand 
lbs. capacity car is only about three thousand dozen, 
and as a general thing a dealer can have his celery 
shipped that way, in one-third loads, and compete 
in price at that with express. During warm weath- 
er they usually only order partial loads. These 
cars are built with an ice chest in each end to hold 
one ton and a half each of ice, which will last for a 
run of six or seven hundred miles in warm weather. 
Have car iced a few hours before commencing to 
put in the celery. The boxes for shipping celery 
in this way need not be so strongly made as for 
express. 

There is a demand for shipments of large quan- 
tities in portions of the country where there is but 
little of any kind grown, as Missouri, Kansas and 
Iowa, also Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, the 
Carolinas and Kew England. In most parts where 
it is grown at all, it is very poor, stunted, tough 
and uninviting. 

But few people know what good celery is yet, 
never havini>: seen or tasted it. I learn this fact 
from the voluntary testimony I get through the 



116 C^I^ERY GROWING. 

mails from my patrons all over the country, in the 
manner they express tome their surprise upon see- 
ing such fine celery as shipped from here, and in 
their comparison of it with what they have been sell- 
ing. The new order of things that has been brought 
into existence recently in this vicinity is a move 
beyond the conception of the oldest grower or 
dealer upon the continent. To see is to be fully 
persuaded. Market gardeners have seen it in their 
markets in many States, and they are so far be- 
hind that they track it up and find where it is 
grown, so as to get the points necessary to com- 
pete. ''Thus is this age improving upon the age 
that went before." 

There is still another way to ship, that is, by a 
way refrigerator line which is now in operation 
upon many of the roads ; that is, a refrigerator car 
stoj)S at all stations two or three times per week 
and carries all perishable goods in that car at reg- 
ular freight rates, so in case you are supplying 
any house upon such lines, it is a cheap way of trans- 
portation. 

TAKING A REVIEW, AND MAKING AN ADVANCE AFTER- 
WARDS, AND GETTING SOME STOREHOUSE 
MATERIAL READY. 

Now you have your markets established and are 
harvesting the crop as it ripens, washing it clean, 



KEVIEWING THE WORK. 117 

preparing it for the market in as good shape 
as you can, and learning each day by experience. 
Keep right on doing that way. The growing sea- 
son is short, and the work must all be kept right 
up even, so as not to have anything to do in the 
month of October which can be done before, as that 
is a very busy month. 

It will pay you well in the long run to put a fair 
share of your crop into store for winter, as the de- 
mand for it is more extensive than at any other 
season of the year. If you quit furnishing your 
patrons as soon as winter comes, they will not like 
it, as they will have to go without for the rest of the 
season in case they can not find some one else to 
supjily them, and the next year you may fail to get 
their custom for fear of being again left. Then 
again, by storing the season is made longer, and 
the work can be done with less help, and the help 
is much better satisfied, as they have a chance to 
work more months in the year. Bear in mind that 
expense of storing is light in comjDarison with the 
benefits derived, inasmuch as you have the lumber 
(in the blanching boards) already upon the ground. 

You will have to secure another set of hands for 
taking up and putting the celery into the store- 
houses, so much of it as you are unable to get into 
market by the first of November, as that is the very 
latest that it will do to have any of it left outside. 



118 CEIvERY GROWING. 

It sometimes is hurt by freezing, even before that 
date. It cannot stand a lower degree of co^d than 
twenty-eight after it is ripe without serious injury. 
Therefore, if you have a large acreage you will 
need to be ready to put some in by the middle of 
October. 

Make arrangements in the spring before setting 
out the celery, for a site for the storehouses, or at 
least a part of them. Get them as near the wash- 
house as you can for convenience in cold weathero 
You will need to cut in time coarse grass, wide blades, 
enough to cover the roof of the storehouses eight 
or nine inches in depth, and have it stacked 
handy by. In case that cannot be procured, straw 
or chaff can be used. Now for poles to support the 
roof, and posts to support the poles. Have them 
also ready, then they will be seasoned and light to 
handle. Straight poles are the thing, from three 
to ^ve inches in diameter. Peel them while green. 
Tamarack or spruce make nice ones. In case you 
cannot get poles, use scantling four by four. The 
posts can be made from material of any kind, so it 
has the strength. 

Perhaps the first year that you are in the busi- 
ness, you would not care to make very extensive 
arrangements for storing, but it would be best to 
put up one or two storehouses anyway for the ex- 
perience afterward. 



BANKING WITH EARTH. 119 

BANKING WITH EARTH FOR BLANCHING, ALSO AS A 
BROTECTION AGAINST THE FREEZING WEATHER. 

The first of September it is safe to commence 
throwing the earth up to the rows of celery with 
a view to blanch it. Consequently all that you 
have at this* date (which the boards will not have 
time to blanch and still be ready for use in the store- 
house construction by the first of October) which 
you do not want to save for winter use and put 
into the storehouse, needs now to be banked grad- 
ually along during the next twenty days. 

The Planet Junior Cultivator is the first tool to 
use. Set the two side shovels or wings at an angle 
to throw the earth towards the rows ; have on the 
large rear tooth in the center ; go through between 
all the rows to be banked, once in a place, then 
turn back and go once in a row in the opposite 
direction, bearing down hard. This work shoves 
the earth up to the plants, and under the leaves. 

Now be it understood, there is no tool upon the 
market that will do the banking as well as a home- 
made shovel 2)low shown in plate (see cut 'No. 12). 
Although the Planet Junior folks make what they 
call a celery banker, it is not much, if any, better 
than the cultivator, unless they have improved it 
since last year, of which I am not advised. That 
being the case I was forced to make one. 



120 CELEKY GROWING. 

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHOVEL BANKING PLOW 

IND ITS USE. 

{See Cut ) 

First getting the largest shovel plow I could Und 
in the market, I had holes drilled through the toj), 
then took No. 1 sheet iron, had a blacksmith cut a 
strip six inches wide, and give it at the ends the 
same slope the shovel has, and put three holes 
through to mate those in the shovel, and bolted 
on. You can see the whole construction by look- 
ing at the cut. 

When that was done it was not high enough yet ; 
the earth would roll over the top, so I had another 
six-inch strip bolted on. It is now first-rate. The 
plow shows a flat front, but it is not so. It is nicely 
rounding so the earth rolls from it, and is crowded 
towards the rows and left just where you want it. 

This plow follows up the cultivator after the second 
time through, the rear tooth having loosened up the 
center of the row. Now the shovel plow will roll that 
earth up towards the rows. But as it is early, and 
no danger of freezing weather, and it may be hot 
and wet enough to rot or rust the stalks in case 
the earth is thrown too solidly against them, hence 
the plow should be handled by a strong careful 
man, and the earth gotten just as close to the stalks 
as it can be and not rest against them, the lower 




BANKING PI^OW. {Cut No. 12 ) 



CONSTRUCTION OF THE BANKING PI,OW. 123 

leaves being so thick that they will help very 
materially to keep the earth from the stalks. 

By treating it thus, in four weeks, with usual 
September weather, it will be prime. If your cel- 
ery IS large, you may need to go in the row twice. 
If so after once through with the shovel plow, go 
once in a row with a two-toothed corn cultivator, 
such as is in common use. That loosens up the bot- 
tom of the row for the shovel plow again. This 
shovel plow also brushes back the leaves with the 
wings. In case the ujDper addition is not needed, 
take it off. You can also shape the curve of it 
just as it needs to be act right upon the soil. 

It takes a few days longer for it to blanch than 
it would if the earth were rolled against it, which 
it will not do to have done earlier than the twentieth 
of September. Again, the celery will be cleaner, 
consequently not so much work to wash it. Have 
the frame of the plow made just the height that it 
will be easy to j^ut your weight upon it, and it will 
require it frequently. 

A plow like this is just the thing to hill potatoes 
with, when grown uj^on these peat lands, as it 
leaves a chance for them to breathe through at the 
sides, and drains them a little in case of too much 
wet. 

I had nearly forgotten to say that there are only 
two kinds of celery that will blanch with the earth 



124 CEI^ERY GROWING. 

as here advised. Those are White Plume and 
Golden Self-Blanching. All other kinds must be 
banked tight but not so early within a few days. 

THE TIME FOR BANKING WINTER OR STORE CELERY. 

All of the celery that is to go into the store- 
houses for winter market must be banked a little 
at least, in order that the stalks may be pressed 
together and so form a close, symmetrical head ; 
partly for the sake of appearance, more so it can 
be handled without being badly broken to pieces 
while being harvested. It would be all sprawled 
out if not banked, and the stalks badly broken by 
handling. Some get broken even at the best. 

Now this storehouse celery should be banked 
between the twenty-fourth of September and the 
first of October. Go through twice with the culti- 
vator and once with the shovel jdIow. That will 
be enough at first, in case the ground is mellow so 
YOU can throw the earth a2:ainst the stalks twelve 
inches high. If not loosen up the bottom and go 
through with the shovel again. 

North of latitude 42° do the work a little earlier, 
and south some days later (according to the dis- 
tance) than dates given here. The routine of work 
^ and the principle connected with it are just the 
same both north and south, but the seasons are 
shorter north, consequently the celery could jiot be 



time; for banking winter or store ceI/Ery. 125 

put out SO early in the spring, and would need to be 
all secured earlier in the fall. Each one must 
decide for themselves according to the latitude in 
which they live. In south latitude it is all earlier 
the farther we go. When we reach the Gulf States, 
the plants do not want to be set until the last of 
October and through JN^ovember in order to get the 
growth in our winter; then we can commence 
harvesting the middle of January, and carry it into 
April. There is no need of storing there, as it is 
a very rare occurrence that frost would hurt it. 

Twelve inches is high enough to bank, unless it 
is to protect it from freezing, which must be thought 
of, as sometimes it gets quite cold by the middle of 
October. By having the ground loosened between 
rows, when cold is threatened the only safe way is 
to go through with the shovel plow and raise the 
earth right up on to the celery as high as you can, 
so the frost cannot work down the stalks. 

Celery that goes in store, that you expect to 
keep until New Year's, need not be blanched more 
than ten days ; for if allowed to get much ripe, it 
will not keep long. The White Plume and the 
Yellow is not to be depended upon after New Year's, 
as it does not stand the storehouse confinement as 
well as the green sorts. All kinds will blanch in 
storehouse if kept long enough, even if put in green, 
providing the roots stand upon a damp bottom so 



126 CEI.BKV GROWING. 

that new rootlets will start. Evolution must take 
place in order to get a nioe bleach. The ends of 
all the rows must be banked with a hoe or shovel, 
as it cannot be done complete with the plow. 

AN ATTACHMENT FOR A ONE-HORSE PLOW TO CUT OFF 
THE ROOTS, AND HOW TO USE IT. 

iSee Cut ^0. 13.) 

So far the roots have been cut with the spade 
when harvesting, from the fact that it does not do 
to cut much ahead of its being cared for during 
warm weather, as it wilts so readily. But now 
with the approach of cool and cloudy weather, this 
advance will be in order. 

There is no plow with this attachment in the 
market, although I will try and have one put in by 
the Planet Junior people. Therefore j)roceed as 
follows : Take a common light one-horse plow, and 
drill two holes m the land side, at the rear end, 
one inch from the bottom. Have the holes about 
three-eighths inch in size, for two bolts with easy 
working burs. These bolts are to hold the knife 
in position as you see in cut. Now have two knives 
made of the best steel, and have the blade curve 
to the left of the land side about forty-five degrees 
from a straight line with its shank and mold-board, 
when bolted together. The blade is to be about 
twelve inches long by one and a half wide, and a 



A I'J.OW FOR CUTTING KOOTS. 129 

little heavy at the shank, jifst in the angle so as 
not to break, and the blade as it leaves the shank 
set snug to rear of the mold-board, so no clogging 
can take ])lace at that point. The blade can be thin, 
scant one-eighth inch. The slant that it has back- 
ward will allow it to clear itself from anv obstruc- 
tion that it may come in contact with when in 
motion, by sliding around it. Made as advised, it 
will cut eight inches to left of mold-board and at 
just the depth you hold it under ground, when in 
motion. The beam needs to be turned so that it 
will run to land its full capacity, in order to make 
it hug to the row (use a short whiffletree, and let 
the off trace come between the hind legs of the 
horse), as the slant of the knife when cutting the 
roots gives it a tendency to work away from the 
row, just the same as it would slide to the right 
when working past a solid snag. Hold the plow 
firmly, and keep knife sharp with a flat file, and 
you will be pleased with its work. 

It is very handy to have two plows, as the bank 
must be thrown away from the row with the plow 
by going through once upon each side first, with- 
out the knife on. Make the horse walk close to 
the row. But in case you have only one plow it 
is just as well, only it gives some extra work, simply 
in the matter of putting knife on and taking off. 
By using this cutter you will not need by one-fifth 



loO CKI<HKV GKOVVING. 

as much help as you will if it is cut out with a 
spade. Now when you are ready to commence, 
throw back from both sides of a few rows the bank 
of earth that has been thrown up to blanch it. 
This is done, remember, before the knife is put on. 
Have a common corn-cutter, keep sharp with a 
file, have a man follow right up and trim the out- 
side teaves from the row upon one side. This can 
be done better after the earth has been plowed 
away from both sides. Then w^alk close to the row, 
and with a swinging motion of the corn-cutter let 
the point slide under the leaves and outer stalks, 
bringing upwards as you slide it along. Trim from 
the oj^posite side of the row, then serve the other* 
side the same way, also taking a little from the 
height, where it does not interfere with the heart 
stalks. 

Now we are ready to attach the cutting knife to 
the plow. Spade away from the ends of the rows, 
so as to see just where to set the knife in under 
the heads and to cut the roots about three inches 
long. A careful hand will learn to do it well in 
just twenty minutes. You want to go once upon 
each side of the row after the cutter is attached. 

HOW TO HANDLE THE HEADS THAT ARE TO BE 

STORED. 

Now the heads of celery are all standing in the 



HOW TO HANDIvK THR HF.ADS. 131 

rows yet, biii take hold of one and you see it is loose 
at both sides and the bottom. In ease this is to 
be trimmed for market, do it the same as if cut out 
with a spade. But if it is to be put in storehouse, 
take out one head at a time, leave upon each a ball 
of earth the size of a goose egg, and break off with 
your hands the outer stalks, then lay jn little piles 
of about six heads each, so they can be easily en- 
circled within the grasp of the two hands and 
stood in a box such as heretofore mentioned: that 
is, thirty inches long, twelve high and the same in 
width, bottom and ends three-fourths inch, but side 
of three-eighths or one-half inch. Stand box at a 
slant endwise with one end down in the furrow, 
now till with the heads; they will lay in nicely 
without breaking the stalks or mutilating the 
heads. 

Give particular attention to the way each hand 
does his work, as this process is very prolific in 
broken stalks. Firmly insist upon having each 
head handled with care. When taking out from 
ground, grasp head near the roots. When the 
heart stalks are broken, the beauty of the head is 
spoiled. When stripping off the outside leaves, 
hold the root uppermost, so the earth will not work 
down between the heart leaves, as that makes ex- 
tra work washing. When handling the boxes 



132 CKLERY GROWING. 

iilled with celery, loading or unloading, do it with 
care, so as not to chafe stalks upon side of box. 

BUILDING A STOREHOUSE AND VENTILATING THE SAME. 

Now we must build the storehouse, and will com- 
mence by clearing the site of obstructions, and 
staking oif twenty-eight feet wide by about one 
hundred feet long. Stand long way east and west. 
Take common box scraper and scrape out the earth 
from between the stakes, and dump it on a line be- 
tween the stakes, running the long way. This is 
for the eaves of your roof boards to rest upon, and 
the excavation will need to be about six inches 
deep to get earth enough to make the bank three 
feet high. In case it is soft mellow land, anything 
like peat, five hours will do it good. 

Now stretch a line from one stake to the other 
three feet above the ground, and square the west 
end of the storehouse to the line. Drive stakes 
three inches in diameter three feet apart along the 
whole distance and deep enough to hold the bank. 
Three feet will bo enough in almost any kind of 
ground. Now back up the stakes with boards. 
In case of any loose earth being inside, shovel back 
of boards so the earth floor will be level. Build at 
first two boards high, then drive down the boards so 
the bottoms will be about level with the earth floor 
of the house. Put on boards to make it three feet 



Buir^DiNG A storehouse:. 133 

higli, fill in solid against the back and tread down, 
then build up the earth six inches above the upper 
edge of the line of boards, the whole length ; lay six 
inch stri]) wdiole length on to^^ for the eaves of 
roof boards to rest upon, so they will settle even, 
thereby leaving no crack for the cold to get in. 
Drive all the stakes down even with upper edge 
of boards ; now secure the other side the same way. 

This kind of a house is only temporary, put up 
any where in the celery field that you Avant it, and 
taken down in the spring. The same lumber is 
used for blanching boards in summer. 

Now set posts through the entire center to hold 
the ridge pole. Have them ten feet high in the 
clear. Dig a hole two feet deep, into which stand 
one for the end of each pole or scantling. In case 
the ground is soft at the bottom put in a piece 
of j)lank for it to stand upon, then stand supports 
in between, enough to hold the roof. Remember 
it will be quite heavy. Now the next thing in 
order is to stand some boards along upon theii* 
edges upon the ridge pole and eaves rest. Draw 
a line through for a guide by which you can put a 
support midway between the ridge pole and bank 
at eaves. Put up the same style as in the center, 
only give more strength as the weight will be there. 

We are now ready to put on the first course of 
boards, having finished with them for blanching 



134 CEIyEKY GROWING. 

for this year. Let the first boards come just even 
with their supports at the west end; put one No. 8 
nail through the board into each of the three 
supports at the peak, center and eaves. Start 
both sides of roof. Now lay another board close 
up, nail at the ridge pole only. The next board 
nail same as first and so on all the way through. 
It makes it plenty strong, and they are very easily 
taken down in the spring, which is better than 
working around them. You can build permanent 
ones if you think best, by nearly the same method, 
only they had better be built a little higher, as the 
hiaher the better ventilation, hence the better and 
longer the celery will keep. 

There is one thing I wish to call particular 
attention to, that is, the ventilation. By leaving 
a ten-inch space at the peak upon one side of the 
center, the whole length of the building, a twelve- 
inch board will cover it lengthwise in time of need. 
The Avay to do it is this : Let every fourth board 
go oh to the ridge pole, holding ends of those that 
do not come up, Avith a strip supported l)y brackets 
on center posts ; nail to the ridge pole and at all 
points ; then they will hold the boards when the 
ventilating hole is to be covered. We are noAV o\'er 
it once. Gro over it with another course. Let the 
first board on the west end lap over six inches, 
then the center of the boards of the second course 



BUILDING A STORKHOUSE. 135 

comes just over the cracks of the first course every 
time. Finish all in the same manner. 

One important item I had nearly forgotten — 
that is, j^nt in a hothouse sash upon the south side 
for light and ventilation every twenty-five feet. 
Have the upper end at the peak. Let it be in a 
frame or curb, with curb boards ten inches wide 
set right into the first two layers of the roof, with 
cleats nailed in a little below the upper edge, to 
rest the sash upon. Now this roof is done until 
cold weather approaches. Then j)ut on evenly all 
over the roof about eight inches of marsh hay, or 
its equivalent ; then two more courses of boards, 
same as first. The weight wdll settle the hay down 
so the roof will be about even with the windows. 

It is practicable to lengthen out the storehouse to 
the east for one hundred feet more when needed, 
in case you want to do it, making it two hundred 
in all, but it is much more convenient in storing 
the celery to commence at the west end and add 
to its length as you fill. I make mine in the way 
described, and have never had one spread, nor 
blow down, nor get out of shape, nor celery freeze in 
the winter with the thermometer seventeen degrees 
below zero. 

Before commencing to store, put a twelve-inch 
wide board at the west end, the lower edge resting 
upon the floor where the celery is to stand. This 



136 CEI.ERY GROWING. 

board is permanent. (Leave a space m the center 
of gable, about four feet wide, to wheel the celery 
boxes through.) Nail them to the outside gable end 
posts put in the ground, that come up and are nailed 
to the roof boards, under side just flush with the 
outer edge of the first bottom board, they being the 
frame for the gable end. This space of four feet 
left to take the celery through must have double 
doors as cold weather comes on. The rest of the 
space is to be boarded up, nailing to the studding 
except twenty inches down from the edge of the 
first roof board nailed on. This space must be 
twenty inches down all the way from tlfe eaves 
upon both sides to the peak. Have the gable end 
boards sawed at a slant, so the space will be true. 
After the house is filled it can be finished this 
way, but not until then, as it is not so handy nor 
airy when filling. Both ends are to be fixed this 
way. They are to ventilate by letting the wind 
drive through, whenever there is a day that it will 
not freeze. It needs no door in the east end. 

After the celery is in, and there is danger of 
freezing weather, bank up the gables ^yiih earth or 
coarse manure. This twenty-inch space is to be 
closed w^ith two boards uppn each side of center 
post, by sawing the ends at a slant to fit at the cen- 
ter, and a little chamfer at the lower end. Sixteen 
feet lono' bv twelv^e inches wide are the ones. Let 



BUII.DING A stokkhouse;. 137 

the lower edge lap over a little upon the gable 
boards already on, and tack fast to posts, l^ow one 
more board above, upon each side, snug up against 
the second course of roof boards and tacked to the 
edge of the lirst roof board, makes a tight finish. 
They are easily and quickly put up and taken 
down, and it is enough generally for November 
weather, by laying off the sash and peak-ventilat- 
ing boards, which can be off unless it is storming 
when real cold. The ends will freeze much sooner, 
but by giving it close attention you will sooa learn 
just what to do and when to do it. 

Bear in mind to keep it ventilated every hour 
you can consistently. A great deal of celery rots 
in the storehouse, by not being properly ventilated. 
It is very bad to have the moisture condense upon 
the leaves. So long as you can keep them dry you 
are on the right road, and the gable end circula- 
tion is fine for driving out the vapor. 

PUTTING THE CELERY INTO THE STOREHOUSE. 

Now all is supposed to be in readiness to com- 
mence packing it away. In drawing the celery 
use platform upon wagon only. Set full one 
course. Never place one box upon another. Drive 
right to the west end. Commence and carry the 
boxes inside, while filling near the end, but as the 
work gets farther away, load the boxes about three 



138 cei,e;ry growing. 

at once upon tlie wheelbarrow, and wheel to phice. 
Xow stand ten-inch boards edgewise and supported 
by a stake, fifteen inches from the wall, upon both 
sides of the buiklinir. 

Commence at the west end. One man sets the 
boxes along the line of the partition board, another 
hand does the i^acking, by taking out two or three 
heads at a time. Stand first snug against west 
end bottom board, straight up. Go right along, 
pressing each new lot put in close to what has gone 
before, occasionally using the heel of the foot to 
compact the roots, striking close to the ground, 
standing with back to celery while packing. Have 
each head stand straight, or when it is trimmed 
out it will show a crooked, unsalable appearance. 

Finish the rows right through to the east end, 
and as you get past the center unload at the east 
end, it not being so far to wheel the celery. One 
packer can work in each space, and at each end in 
case of a hurry. When filled space off fifteen 
inches more, and stake another row of boards same 
as first. Now fill with celery. There are noAV two 
rows of boards and stakes to hold them. These 
stakes are to be used over and over, for all the 
house. Now measure otf fifteen inches more, take 
the stakes from the first row to hold them up. Now 
that first row of boards must be raised up. Stand- 
ing in the space for the third row, reach right over 



PUTTING THK CEIvEKY INTO THE STOREHOUSE. 139 

the second row, grasp the first row of boards, one 
at a time, raise it so the upper edge will be even 
with the height of the celery. Where the board 
was, is now an open space for the air to circulate 
through, over the entire storehouse when filled. 
Serve all the same way. The pressure of the cel- 
ery upon each side of the board raised will hold it 
in i:)lace after being so raised. In case it should 
not, place short sticks under boards to help sup- 
port. 

Keep right along just as advised, working to- 
wards the center, until there is only a space of four 
or five feet remaining. N'ow you will (as a matter 
of convenience) commence midway and work out 
toward the ends, filling the entire space left as you 
go, unless you leave twelve or fifteen inches for 
an alley-way through the entire length, which is 
quite handy in case of examining the condition of 
the celery from time to time until trimmed out. 
Each box as emptied is turned over by the 
packers, so the earth jarred from the roots is left 
upon the floor of the storehouse. 

I have made the west end of the storehouse a 
starting point, simply because it is necessary to 
have one, but it can just as well be the east. They 
should stand the long way inline^with the prevail- 
ing winds, so as to get that draught through by the 
way of the gable ends, to drive out the vapor which 



140 CEI^ERY GROWING. 

is so detrimental to the well-being of celery in 
store. 

One hundred feet length of storehouse will hold 
about twenty-eight thousand heads of good growth. 
Never put the celery in wet, as it will not keep. 
Always have it dry, and jDack just snug enough so 
that each head will stay in an ujmght j^osition. 

Have one permanent storehouse built somewhere 
just at the edge of the field out of the way. Use 
this one for your hothouse in the winter. You 
will find it very handy. The roof boards can be 
used every year for blanching purposes just the 
same. 

Don't disturb celery in the least when the leaves 
are frozen, as it will make it rot. Wait for the 
frost to get out entirely. 

Don't neglect the ventilation of the storehouses, 
as their contents are very valuable. The ends 
should be open all the time, except when in danger 
of freezing, and the roof ventilators must be closed 
in time of storm.. The ends will need to be closed 
also in case of a driving storm. Have drawn at 
the ends, for a case of emergency, some coarse ma- 
nure, so as to throw up against the gable ventilat- 
ing boards in event of a very cold time. Then just 
as soon as it passes, open up again in full. 

After the last tier of boards is upon the roof, 
bank up well the ends of the boards with earth, 



TUCKING UP THINGS FOR WINTER, 141 

letting a few inches of it come upon top of the last 
course to hold them down and keep out the cold. 
It will not obstruct the water from the roof to 
harm anything in the least. The roof over the 
hay does not need nailing. A row of rails laid the 
whole length, near the peak, will keep the boards 
in position. 

TUCKING UP THINGS FOR WINTER. 

The prospect of cold weather is drawing near. 
Some things need attention with that in view. All 
water pipes that are exposed need to be wrapped 
either with sacking, building-j^aper or old carpet- 
ing. Make a final clean-up of all the celery that 
is out of doors on or before the first of November, 
as one cold night now with the thermometer twelve 
or fifteen below freezing will seriously injure 
all the exposed portions of it. Before it freezes 
up, level down the celery ground, as where you 
have harvested by the use of the plow it is in 
ridges, and would not be in good shape for the dis- 
tribution of manure over its surface the ensuing 
winter. 

Have it only just comfortably warm in the wash- 
ing room, as it will generate too much steam, and 
the hands will be liable to take cold when going 
out into the open air. 

Rochester lamps are the kind to light the wash- 



142 CEIvKRY GROWING. 

ing and j^acking rooms with; as the days are now 
getting so short, evening and early morning will be 
dark. There will also have to be lamps in the 
storehouse when trimming out of there. 

An office building is a necessary adjunct, close 
by the celery buildings, with telej)hone, so as to get 
your telegraph orders as soon as sent you, also 
orders by telephone from places near by. Your 
general celery business will be transacted here, 
such as noting the time of help, debit and credit of 
your patrons, correspondence, etc. It will be a busy 
place during harvest, especially in case you have a 
telephone, which you need in an extensive business. 

TRIMMING OUT FROM THE STOREHOUSES- 

After you have been supplying good customers 
for a time, they do not like to be disappointed in not 
receiving a supply of celery when they expect, as 
that disappoints their patrons also. You may lose 
a good house through disaj^pointing a few times. 
Therefore in storing celery, put that of diiferent 
grades of ripeness in houses by itself, so it will come 
out uniform. Have one that will be ready to com- 
mence upon as soon as the last is trimmed from 
the field. Start a man or two at it at first, and open 
up at the entrance from the door, then work across 
the entire end, and take clean as you go. The 
partition boards will come out to better advantage. 



MAKING TlIlC FINAL, CL,EAN UP. 143 

When making a start upon a new storehouse, in 
ease the weather is mild enough so it will not 
freeze, take right outside and trim until you get a 
start. After getting the celery all trimmed out, 
13ile up the leaves, and they will heat and rot down. 
The houses can be taken down in the spring, after 
the snow goes off. Pile all the lumber with a 
cover, wired down. 

MAKING THE FINAL CLEAN UP. 

See that the well to the windmill is covered with 
coarse manure, so that none of the pipes will freeze ; 
also that the permanent storehouse to be used for 
a hothouse does not freeze. Now, after the last 
box is marketed, pick up all the tools and j^ut in 
their places, that nothing may be lost or wasted. 

All who want only to grow celery for their own 
use, can j)ursue the course laid down in this work 
upon just the scale their wants demand, and for 
winter keeping store in out-door cellar, or 
boxes, or half barrels, or upon the bare 
ground in the cellar, with water turned upon the 
roots occasionally, especially if the cellar is dry. 
Use a funnel to run the water on to the roots so as 
not to wet the leaves or stalks, as it rots them. 
Those who grow celery for their own use can af- 
ford to give it extra care. Give it the choicest 
place upon the farm or in the garden. Make the 



144 CEIyKRY GROWIlSTG. 

land very rich. Keep watered in a dry time. 
Don't bring the earth to it until late in the season. 
Blanch with boards, tile or paj^er, that which you 
want for use in warm weather. A part of that 
which you want to keep until into April and May, 
don't blanch at all. Bring up the stalks in a close 
upright position (before taking out of the ground) 
and tie with a cord. Stand away in a cool cellar, 
or out-door root-house, and they will be fine just 
when it will be difficult to find it in the market. 

In writing this treatise, beginning with the select- 
ing of the grounds, by thorough description, and 
carrying you along step by step through the pros- 
pective crop, I believe I have noted every essen- 
tial point upon which rests the culmination of a 
final grand success. Therefore, trusting that you 
will, when growing your real crop, follow up and 
adopt each principle as advised, in a careful and 
painstaking way, w^ith the same zeal and earnest- 
ness with which I have endeavored to write it, a 
triumph will have been attained, a success assured, 
and a resting point in life's journey reached 



THOUGHTS AS THEY HAVK OCCURRED. 145 

THOUGHTS AS THEY HAVE OCCURRED SINCE WRITING 
THE BODY OF THE BOOK. 

There are several items of interest and worth, 
which I did not think of until after the book had 
gone to joress. They will now come in under the 
above heading. 

First. Allow no decaying substance of any kind 
near where your celery is stored, for- if you do the 
celery will taste of that substance, consequently 
hurt, if it does not entirely spoil, the sale of it. 
Whenever the air is offensive to the nostrils, give 
it attention, as the celery stalk is so juicy it will 
take it up and hold it. This very thing cost me 
one hundred dollars. In the early days of my 
growing celery I lined the outside of one end of my 
storehouse in part with common tarred building 
paper. It was there about thirty days when I com- 
menced trimmina: it out for market, and for fifteen 
feet in, it all tasted just as if kerosene oil had been 
turned upon it, would not sell, and it also hurt my 
trade for trying to sell it, which I did not do after 
I found out it was bad ; yet it was hard to explain 
away the bad taste. Some thought its bad flavor 
came from my trying to blanch it in some way 
chemically, which was purely imaginary ; but it was 
one of those schools of experience to me which the 
immortal Noah Webster used to talk about in the 
old elementary spelling-book which was used in 



146 . CEI^KRY GROWING. 

the schools in Michigan in the early days. I have 
never been caught that way since. 

Celery rust, as applied to the stalk, is simply 
incipient decay, but as applied to the leaf it is an 
entirely different thing. The lower leaves will 
commence to die and turn brown, the growth of 
the plant stop, and it is jiractically spoiled, usually 
affecting the entire foliage of the plant within a 
few days. It rarely affects young plants, but they 
are half or full grown before it appears. 

It is not often that celerv is affected in that wav, 
and there is no known reason for its appearance. 
It is just as liable to come in a wet season as a dry, 
upon poor land as good, upon a wet portion of the 
field as the dry, generally in patches here and 
there, consequently there is no known remedy. The 
cause is simply theoretical. Some horticulturists 
have ventured an opinion, but my own experiences 
get around all that I have seen given yet. For 
instance, one writer thinks it comes from root dis- 
turbance, yet I have seen it where there had never 
been any root disturbance, not cultivated to dis- 
turb one root, and the soil perfectly free from in- 
sect life. It is j^robably due to the presence of a 
mite, too small to have been yet detected, which 
under just the right conditions springs into life in 
a minute, and upon a change of atmospheric con- 
ditions goes just as quickly. I think the con- 



Thoughts as they have occurred. 147 

dition could luore appropriately be termed a blight 
than a rust. As yet it has done but little harm. 

There is a green worm with white stripes over 
the back, which sometimes feeds upon the leaves, 
but so far has done no apparent harm. With these 
exceptions celery is free from special enemies or pests. 

All celery packed in storehouses to come out 
in six weeks from date of going in, does not hurt if 
stored just as snug as you can pack it, in case it is 
put in dry and kept well ventilated as heretofore 
advised, and as the room is valuable, that is the 
proper thing to do, but bear in mind the longer it 
is to be kept the less crowded it should be. 

The trimming oif the leaves with the corncutter, 
except the heart leaves, as heretofore advised, re- 
quires your best attention, as that allows the air to 
circulate more easily through between the heads, 
as well as relieves it of that part which rots first, 
and afterwards afPects the stalks by forcing upon 
them bad company. Another view of it is this : 
In case there was no value in beauty to the 
leaves of the heart, then all the leaves could be 
stripped off and the stalks would keep indefinitely. 
Hence the value of taking off all that can be judi- 
ciously spared. When the leaf rots, the stalk 
takes up the odor of decay, consequently it becomes 
very nearly worthless. 



148 CEI.ERY GROWING. 

I have been very much surprised to see the 
amount of celery rot in store from being put in with 
too much leaf, and so poorly ventilated, which are 
the general causes of the loss, and by growers that 
had grown gray in the business and certainly 
ouoht to have known better. 

Don't let your early plants get stunted from 
cold or drought, as they will go to seed just in pro- 
portion to the check back that they get, and all of 
that kind are worthless. Do not allow a head 
which shows an inclination to go to seed to be j)ut 
up for sale, for it is a fraud and will militate 
against you in time, as the stalks are strong and 
tough and not fit to eat. That kind of a head 
shows an extra thickness at the heart just above 
the root, at which point the stalks show great 
irregularity in coming out. This is the case where 
the seed stalk has not grown out for enough to 
show what it is at a glance, and some growers (I am 
sorry, to say) excuse themselves thus for j)utting 
them into the bunches for sale. There is quite 
likely to be occasionally a head here and there 
through the field going to seed. You must expect 
that, and there is no remedy. Keep thrift in the 
plants and you will have but few of that kind. 

In the selection of a site for growing celery, if 
you have a piece which will work easily and is 
moist, that is the piece even if it is ever so poor, 



THOUGHTS AS THEY IJAVI^ OCCUKRED. 149 

because you can enrich it to the very highest state 
of fertility. If the ground will give the plants 
drink and hold them in position so you can feed 
them, that gives you one of the best of chances. 
I had one acre, where the corn only grew two feet 
high and no ears at all, the land was so poor from 
some unaccountable cause. It was new, had never 
raised a crop. But with double the fertilizers which 
the rest of the land had, it grew equally as good a 
crop of celery, and has all been fertilized the same 
since ; there has been no difference since in the 
production. This acre had one ton of refuse salt, 
two hundred bushels ashes and fifty loads of barn- 
yard "manure. Make the land rich enough at 
first to produce a good croj), then put on enough 
each year to hold it right there, and you are w^ork- 
ing to a purpose, and the results will be highly 
satisfactorv. 

Don't make your storehouse warm too early. You 
had better let a little freeze than to have consider- 
able rot. Standing packed as celery does in the 
store, it cannot freeze, only the tops at first, be it 
ever so cold, and that will give you time to close 
it up. Be a little afraid all the time of having it 
too close than too open. Steady cold, night and 
day, is what drives the frost into a storehouse. Be 
prepared to secure it in case such a spell comes on 
suddenly. Ail you expect to trim out in T^ovem- 



150 CEIvKKV GKOWING. 

ber will hardly need the coarse hay and extra roof, 
in this latitude of 42,° although on N"ovember 
18, 1880, it was 4"^ below zero here 

I want to say here that the best strain of Boston 
Market celery seed I ever had, was from D. M. 
Ferry, of Detroit, Michigan. 

In case you ever sow any kind of fertilizer upon 
young 23lants, do it very sparingly, or you will in- 
jure if not kill them. If liquid manure of any kind 
is put on, have it weak. My own experience is 
that all of the special feeds are injurious to young 
plants, but nearly everyone wants to try them for 
themselves before they are fully satisfied. The 
best thing to do, is to have the ground well supplied 
with phosj^hate, nitrogen and potash, the three 
essentials to plant growth, in advance, so the root- 
lets can feed upon them as soon as large enough 
to assimilate. Then they will take it in at their 
leisure and not be forced to eat if they are not 
hungry. 

The wheel for punching holes is so arranged that 
wherever the soil is hard, so that the weight of the 
wheel is not enough to punch the holes full depth, 
it can be w eighted down with a timber upon each 
side. Also two men at the rear, one at each side of 
the cross-bar, to push and bear down as well as to 
hold the wheel vertical. 



THOUGHTS AS THEY HAVE OCCURRED. 151 

For plowing lands which have never been 
plowed, a sulky plow, with a rolling colter kept 
sharp hy use of the file, does the best work, as you 
can invert the furrow perfectly, as the colter will 
cut the grass or shrub roots right through, and no 
tearing or shoving ahead, as with the old-fashioned 
upright colter in mellow soils. In case there are 
no stones or roots more than an incli in diameter, 
the plow will go right through without a miss. 

H. L. Stewaet, 

Tecumseh, Micthigan. 







im>i/:B 



